Child Advocacy Resources

Take a look at the following resources for worship, reflection, and action related to the “Educate a Child” National Initiative.


Featured Resource

The Educate a Child Toolkit is Here!
Want to start an education-oriented ministry in your congregation but don’t know where to begin? Already have an education program but want to be more effective? Involved in direct service but looking for a way to participate in local education advocacy? Have great ideas for a ministry but looking for funding sources? Check out the resources in this toolkit!

View the Toolkit Online

Download the Toolkit


Eileen Lindner

Into the Words…Recalling our Heritage  | Rev. Dr. Eileen Lindner

The Domestic Expression of Educate a Child, Transform the World
“The urgency of this work is told in the rates of infant mortality and teenage suicide, in lives doomed from their outset to despair and desperation, and in the squandering of God’s gracious gift of intelligence and imagination – the defiling of the sacred imago Dei.”  Read Article


Emily Whearty

The Vocation of Education | Bruce, Lora, and Emily Whearty

“I’ve realized that I have to believe I am meant to be there, or I won’t last much longer. And I want to last. Even through all the frustrations, I find myself loving my students fiercely.” Read Article


The Prime Time Parade | Rev. Dave Brown, Walking the Church/School Boundary

“Prime Time is a religion-free zone so that it affirms the separation of church and state and so that it embodies Jesus’ teaching to love our neighbors.”
Read Article

Dave Brown

“Educate a Child, Transform the World” National Brochure

Download the PDF

National Brochure

General Assembly Social Witness Policy

A Vision for Children and the Church

2010 General Assembly Education Policy“A Vision for Children and the Church” was adopted by the 205th General Assembly (1993) as a response to a concern for the need for a systematic approach to ministering with and for children.

Loving Our Neighbors: Equity and Quality in Public Education

“Loving Our Neighbors,” adopted by the 219th General Assembly (2010), is the PC(USA)’s most recent comprehensive policy on public education. It was prepared for the Assembly by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP). It discusses the challenges to public education posed by growing economic divisions and new demographic realities in our society.


Relevant Articles

Hope in a Child (Presbyterians Today) | Rev. Alonzo Johnson

A call to educate and care for the vulnerable children of the world
Celebrating Jesus’ birth shows that we put our faith in a baby born in struggle and fragility. But there’s good news: the most famous vulnerable child in history becomes the master teacher. Jesus’ story, like Mark’s, beckons us to see the potential of the image of God in all of our young people. As Presbyterians, we heed the corresponding call to the work of education. Continue Reading

 Read Article

 

Ray RobertsOur Theology of Public Education | Rev. Dr. Raymond Roberts

“As we consider the continuing challenges to American public schooling, we do well to retrieve this covenantal understanding that education is a common good.” Read Article

 

 

 

Marian Wright EdelmanThe Cradle to Prison Pipeline | Marian Wright Edelman

America’s New Apartheid
“Christians who profess to believe that God entered human history as a poor vulnerable baby, and that each man, woman, and child is created in God’s own image need to act on that faith.” Read Article

 

 

Read statistics about the status of children from the Decade of the Child.


 

Books for Further Reading

Thus Far On the Way: Toward a Theology of Child Advocacy | Eileen Lindner

This book of sermons by Rev. Dr. Eileen Linder, adapted from sermons delivered at the Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy at the Children’s Defense Fund’s Haley Farm, addresses the key issues of child advocacy and education in a way that is both humorous and heartfelt. Order the book through Amazon

Welcoming Children: A Practical Theology of Childhood | Joyce Ann Mercer

In this book the author examines the theological meaning of childhood. She explores how the church can best affirm and celebrate children as well as the practices that support and nurture children. Order from Chalice Press.

Rethinking Childhood | Edited by Peter B. Pufall and Richard P. Unsworth

Against a backdrop of poverty and the dehumanizing environment of a consumer culture, children are often patronized or idealized by adults. Here 20 contributors from a variety of disciplines provide a multidisciplinary view of childhood in which children have both voice and agency. Includes a chapter by Dr. Eileen W. Lindner, Presbyterian minister and deputy general secretary for research and planning at the National Council of Churches of Christ. Order from Rutgers University Press.

 

Children in Worship

Starmount Presbyterian Church BaptismWorship is central to the Reformed tradition. The Book of Order states:

In communal and personal worship God calls people to faith and discipleship. Those responding to this call offer themselves and the gifts which God has given them to be used in the life of the community of faith for ministries to the world and to one another (W-6.0001)

Integrating the needs and gifts of children into worship is not a one-time event relegated to a once-a-year special service. The worship resources included here can be used at any time during the church year to bring children front and center in the eyes of your congregation.


Freedom School at CN Jenkins

(Photo courtesy of C.N. Jenkins Presbyterian Church Freedom School Program)

Featured Resource: Children’s Sabbath

The theme for the 24th Children’s Sabbath is “How Long Must I Cry for Help? Bending the Arc toward God’s Vision of Justice for Children.” Use these resources to observe Children’s Sabbath in your own faith community!

Resources for Children’s Sabbath


Prayer Stations for Adults and Children

Sample Sermons

Understanding children

Understanding children and their needs is an ongoing task that requires us to add to our knowledge, develop new skills and learn to use new tools.

New information, insights and research on children and childhood are emerging all the time. If you are ready to dig deeper and go further in understanding children and their needs, these books provide a start.

Welcoming Children: a Practical Theology of Childhood

By Joyce Ann Mercer

In this book the author examines the theological meaning of childhood. She explores how the church can best affirm and celebrate children as well as the practices that support and nurture children. Order from Chalice Press.


Rethinking Childhood

edited by Peter B. Pufall and Richard P. Unsworth

Against a backdrop of poverty and the dehumanizing environment of a consumer culture, children are often patronized or idealized by adults. Here 20 contributors from a variety of disciplines provide a multidisciplinary view of childhood in which children have both voice and agency. Includes a chapter by Dr. Eileen W. Lindner, Presbyterian minister and deputy general secretary for research and planning at the National Council of Churches of Christ. Order from Rutgers University Press.

PowerPoints Available for Presentations

Educate A Child PowerPoint

Basic introduction to the initiative—to share with congregations, organizations, presbyteries, and other mid councils

Disrupting the Pipeline to Prison PowerPoint

Developed for the Workshop “Educate a Child: Disrupting the Pipeline to Prison” at Compassion Peace and Justice Training Day 2016 – includes facts about the Pipeline to Prison and how you can disrupt it through direct action and advocacy

You Have a Voice in Washington

The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness is the public policy information and advocacy office for the PC(USA).

In addition to being the church’s voice on public policy issues, the Office of Public Witness helps Presbyterians to be faithful advocates through issues networks that provide:

  • timely updates on pending national legislation affecting children
  • PC(USA) public policy statements
  • tools to advocate on behalf of children

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