Children Worship & Wonder
Last weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma to meet the granddaughter of the author of Young Children and Worship. Olivia Stewart-Robertson grew up within the program of Children Worship & Wonder. Her grandmother, Sonja Stewart, created this incredible method of worship & learning for children over a period of many years as she worked as a professor at Western Theological Seminary. Olivia was the child she worked with to fine-tune the program, the stories, the pieces and to discover the many ways in which children can and do encounter God. Olivia Stewart-Robertson is the Minister of Family & Children’s Ministries at Disciples Home Missions. She is an incredible resource for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)!
The weekend was spent with Storyteller Trainers from across the Unites States learning and developing new stories, learning new songs, learning from one another about the program and learning from Olivia the basics of the program so we can make sure we are adhering to the integrity of Young Children & Worship and the follow-up book by Sonja Stewart, Following Jesus.
We also met with Sally Selzer of Worship Woodworks, who creates story pieces for Children Worship & Wonder. Sally shared new pieces she has designed for the program, new puzzles to enhance the children’s response time and ways she is improving our old pieces. It was a weekend packed with lots of great news when it comes to children’s ministries!
We are also creating ways to help our families with faith formation through the sharing of ideas and development of materials and curricula to encourage and empower families to continue learning and growing as Disciples at home.
The most exciting part of the weekend is the future of Children Worship & Wonder. Our group is committed to writing a new book of stories to add to the program…so, more biblical stories will be introduced to the children through this incredible program. I feel privileged to be a part of that project! I look forward to sharing all these things with you more fully throughout our ministry together.
Blessings,
Tracy