Resources, reviews and insights for Children, Young People & Families
Book Review: Activating the Voice of God in Your Home, by Matt Holman
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I was asked to review ‘Activating the Voice of God in Your Home’ (Holman 2023) and have to say I found it a really encouraging read. Encouraging, because I love the expectation within it that everyone of all ages does hear God, and also because of Matt Holman’s stories and examples - testimonies of God working in individuals’ lives is always encouraging isn’t it! I’d describe the book as a simple guide to help families train themselves to hear God more clearly and more expectantly in the home.
The introduction lays out how people of all ages are able to hear the voice of God and how his book aims to share stories from his own family’s faith journey to encourage and inspire families to seek to hear and share the voice of God.
The first section contains four Activations to help families connect with God’s presence and peace. I love the story shared as part of Activation three with a story of 82 year old Joan encountering Holy Spirit for the first time because she had a ‘God given desire’ during a service.
The second section contains three Activations to help us learn to receive from God. I really like how Matt references examples of his children encountering God through technology, rather than suggesting that the only way to hear God is to avoid tech; God (unsurprisingly) can use it!
The third section has three Activations exploring how to discover God’s voice through His creation and everyday experiences. The suggested Activations in this section are all very simple but reveal key ways of spending time together as family seeking to make us more aware in the everyday of what Jesus wants to highlight, how Jesus wants to connect with us whatever our age and what action He might be prompting us to take.
Section four has four Activations around the theme of exploring identity and spiritual growth. I particularly like the emphases on ensuring that children grow up to engage with who they are in Jesus and the acknowledgment that the prophetic has in developing our identity as sons and daughters of Christ.
The fifth section has three Activations about how to hear the voice of God (John 10: 27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”). The varied stories Matt offers from his family’s experiences to accompany each Activation help to give tangible examples of how, when they as a family have sought to hear and then follow the voice of God, they have experienced miracles, encouragements and blessings. These help to raise our faith to expect such experiences, and more, as we choose to step into activating the voice of God in our home and everyday lives.
The sixth and final section has five simple Activations that explore how God sometimes communicates through imagery and symbols. These are Activations that could be shared with any age (and I predict could encourage many adults). The story of Matt’s son sharing a prophetic sense with his adult cousin (Activation 18) is really encouraging and shows how activating the voice of God within your family grows confidence and makes sharing the prophetic the norm, and of course children often don’t have the hang-ups or hesitations we have as adults and just go ahead when prompted by God!
Carefully woven in throughout the Activations are suggested tips which relate to safeguarding your child or young person. Matt has also provided an index with potential interpretations of symbols and imagery, to aid as the reader weighs prophetic senses before God, and in scripture. Top quote from the book - “We are uniquely created, therefore, we all have a unique relationship with God. The key to hearing God with confidence is discovering the way in which you hear best.” (Holman 2023 p.44)
I’d recommend this book as a great resource for families and those who lead children and youth ministries because it is full of practical suggestions for Activations to grow in activating the voice of God. (As I said earlier, I also think it could really encourage lots of adults too!).
Jodie Thorpe, YBA CYF Enabler
Holman, M.(2023) Activating the Voice of God in Your Home: A Resource for Families, Youth & Children. Independent Publishing Network. 15th Oct 2023. 158 pp
Young People and Fresh Ideas for Communion?
Jodie Thorpe, our Children, shared this informative reflection on an event - the Baptists Together Whitely Lecture 2023
“I recently had the privilege of hosting the Baptists Together Whitley lecture 2023 which was livestreamed and recorded. This isn’t usually a space I’d find myself in, but the lecturer was Linda Hopkins whose research centred around young people and their experiences of communion in Baptist settings, and so the Baptist Together Children, Youth and Families Round Table (of which I am the YBA representative on) were keen to get involved in the exploration!
I encourage you to listen to the recording of the lecture (see link below) because it is a really relevant exploration about how we set up certain ‘spaces’ in our worshipping settings. The focus of Linda’s research was ‘Communion’, which forms the key aspect of her book and the lecture. However, I believe the wider questions transcend Communion and have far-reaching implications for a whole variety of things we regularly do as part of worship together as Baptists, in a variety of spaces, as rituals or practices.
A key part of our DNA as CYF Round Table is seeking to hear the voice of the child and young person. Linda has been seeking to do just that through her fieldwork in different Baptist churches around the significant sacramental practice of Communion. Linda began her research with the premise that she felt that often young voices go unheard within our Baptist denomination. So, Linda wanted to give voice to young people and hear their emerging theologies, their expressions of faith and how these might inform a critique of practise. Linda’s key question being “Would young people’s expressions inform a fresh envisioning of Communion as a place for nurturing discipleship within the community of faith?”. During the exploration of Linda’s research in the recording Clare, Mike and myself (as members of the CYF Round Table) explore aspects with Linda in an interactive way, such as whether there is space for all at the Communion table and what young person’s role might be.
I really encourage you to set aside an hour to listen to the lecture. It could perhaps be better expressed as an ‘exploration’, because there is so much more to chew-over and consider for us all as we seek to establish places that welcome all ages, and people of all stages, to journey together in faith. I think that it helps challenge us about how we set up our ‘spaces’; be they conceptual spaces, sacred spaces, or physical spaces – the ‘space’ is important and I wonder if it could be helpful to reimagine the spaces we have created?
Here are a few questions to consider after you’ve listened:
How do you encourage the voice of the child and the young person to be heard in your setting?
How could communion be re-envisioned as a space for nurturing faith alongside one another as a community?
What ‘spaces’ are you creating and how welcoming/appropriate/nurturing/challenging/explorative (and so on…) are they?
Further steps:
If you want to explore these topics further, Linda Hopkin’s book ‘Learning from Young People’s Experiences of Baptist Communion: Re-envisioning the Meal as a Space or Nurturing Faith’ is available to buy:
‘Gathering Around the Table: Children and Communion’ is also available to buy.
Resources
CYF Racial Justice Resource
Even though there are a vast number of resources on the Christian market to enable young people to reflect on their Christian faith, few (if any) intentionally enable Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnics to see their image reflected in the resources. This resource draws on culturally diverse images, exercises and activities, exploring and celebrating some of the historical and current unique contributions from our multicultural society. The material seeks to affirm, both theologically and culturally, all young people between the ages of 13-16.
Joining the Dots - Podcast
Joining the Dots is a podcast that draws on the wisdom of experts and the experience of those on the ground to help start the conversation in exploring the context of the child so that the dots between home, church, community, school and faith begin to join up.
There are currently two series available with discussion hosted by members of the Baptists Together CYF Round Table
Kitchen Table Project
A great new resource that is available for churches to work through to evaluate how effective their approach is to children and family ministry and where the responsibility for this lays.
At the heart of the resource is addressing the question of how we help children develop a lasting faith. The resource is available to purchase and gives access to videos and questions to consider. A really great tool for churches to use.
New training opportunities:
Children's Ministry Essentials
Children's Ministry Essentials Course from Cliff College and the Children's Ministry Network, new from October 2024.
It consists of 10 online modules. "Each of the modules within the Children's Ministry Essentials includes preparatory work, insights, skills and discipleship to help develop your learning in the subject area, your skills as a practitioner and personal development as a Christian disciple. It is expected that each module will take you approximately 2 hours to complete plus additional time for extension work depending on your chosen engagement."
Youthscape Essentials
Youthscape Essentials is an online training series for all Youth team volunteers, leaders, ministers, parents, grandparents who would like to increase skills and understanding for all those working alongside / living with teenagers.
Youthscape Essentials is ten sessions covering 30 topics. The topics are divided into Insights into Young People, Skills for Youth Work and Developing Character. You’ll listen to young people, learn from professionals, participate in practical exercises and take time to deepen your own faith. It makes no assumptions about your experience, age or background. It’s accessible to those starting out as volunteers, but deep enough to stretch those who have been working alongside young people for longer.
The YBA are running this course jointly with the NBA on Zoom on Monday evenings 7:30-9:30pm, starting on Monday 20th January, running weekly with a break for half term on 24th February, then continuing from 3rd March.
This is a great opportunity to invite your teams of volunteers or those on the edges who you’d love to engage in supporting your ministry with teenagers. The course is free of charge, with an optional workbook available to purchase.
If you or others wish to book on, please use the following link and add the course code - 1182777: