Children’s Experiences Matter: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Abstract

I was born and raised in the northern part of Ethiopia in a town called Kombolcha. My mother worked full-time, and my father was a pastor, so my brothers and I were mainly cared for and supported by our aunties, grandmother, and the whole neighborhood; those layers of relationships and connections made me believe that I belonged to my close family, congregation, neighbors, and community. My Sunday school, preschool, and elementary school teachers and the people I met in the market, at weddings, or on the way to school or church impacted my formation and identity. And, of course, all the healthcare workers and public leaders who contributed to the safety and wellness of my family and community also made me feel nurtured, accepted, and recognized. Now, I am working as the Berryman Family Chair for Children’s Spirituality and Nurture at Virginia Theological Seminary, so my scholarship emerges from my lived experience in which I advocate for addressing children’s holistic needs for nurturing their spirituality in their given contexts. Therefore, in this article, I question children’s ministries and educational approaches that portray children as passive recipients and which limit their spirituality to a few hours of Sunday morning practice. These churches, educational programs, and curriculums claim that their programs, including Sunday school ministry, can shape how children live and practice their life now and in the future. However, children’s embodied and lived experiences, the surrounding social, political, and cultural structures, and vocational experiences and practices are not considered in how children shape their agency or spirituality. I claim that children’s lived experiences, relationships, and feelings in personal, social, and political spaces impact how they construct or live their spirituality both within a religious context and outside one. Following Eva Poluha’s four paradigms of childhood studies,1 I claim that children are subjective agents, and diverse people, places, and spaces that make them feel they belong or feel rejected impact how they form, construct, and reconstruct their agency. I define children’s agency as their spirituality. And, children’s spirituality is holistic, including their social, spiritual, political, and material needs, desires, feelings, and developments. My aim is not only to claim children’s agency but to propose an interdisciplinary approach that will enable us to explore how diverse spaces, voices, and communities impact the agency and subjectivity of children. The interdisciplinary approach to studying children’s spirituality questions static and unshakable ways of ministry and education through the lived experiences of children. I define this