Spiritual Growth In Kids

Your child’s faith questions can be surprisingly direct, and sometimes unintentionally funny, like a preschooler hunting under the bed because you said God is everywhere. That moment reveals something important: children aren’t “hard to teach” spiritually, they’re simply processing God through the developmental stage they’re in. I walk through children’s spiritual development with a practical, age-by-age lens so you can teach faith clearly, patiently, and with confidence.

We ground the conversation in Scripture and the call for Christian parenting to be daily and intentional, drawing on Deuteronomy 6 and Proverbs 22:6 as a framework for faith-based education at home, church, homeschool, and private school. Then we get specific: what works for four- and five-year-olds who think literally, how to use repetition, simple explanations, Bible story play, and Scripture memory without frustration. For ages six to eight, we talk about keeping Bible time active and engaging so kids connect spiritual growth with joy, not boredom. For preteens, we focus on lively learning, participation, and making room for deeper questions as their thinking becomes more abstract.

I also spend time on a real-world challenge: raising kids in a secular school environment. Public schools may not teach spirituality, but they can teach moral development, and parents remain the primary guides for building a spiritually vibrant home. You’ll also hear a memorable metaphor for faith formation: spiritual growth adds layers like tree rings, building over time rather than replacing earlier stages. If this helps you, subscribe, share the episode with a parent or teacher, and leave a review so more families can find it.

Resources:

What You Need to Know About Kids' Spiritual Development - https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/2537819/episodes/18902653/edit

» I Can Know God: A Guide to Children’s Spirituality - https://faithandchildren.org/2024/04/22/a-guide-to-childrens-spirituality/

THRIVE_FINAL-compressed.pdf - https://faithandchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/04/THRIVE_FINAL-compressed.pdf

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Transcript

Why Faith Formation Matters

Building Service Into Spiritual Life

Preschoolers Learn Literally

Ages Six To Eight Respond Deeply

Preteens Need Lively Learning

Faith Grows Like Tree Rings

Parenting Faith In Secular Schools

Resources And Final Encouragement

How To Reach Me

Tonya 0:04

Welcome to Educate Me Well, the podcast that brings faith and education together. Hi, I'm Tonya, and I'm so glad you're here. When one of my children was four years old, I found her searching her bedroom: in the closet, under the bed. What are you looking for? I asked. She drew her hand to her hip and replied, You said God was everywhere, and I can't find him anywhere. This is an example from one of our resources this week on the topic of spiritual development in children. So stay tuned. Hi, my name is Tonya, and I'm so glad you've joined me today on the Educate Me Well podcast. Today we're talking about spiritual development in children. We know as our society's culture has increasingly strayed from and rejected God's law, that we see a turning away in our public schools as well. The word of God gives us a clear admonition to raise our children to respect God and His will for their lives. Proverbs 22 and 6 instructs us to train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Then again in Deuteronomy 6, 4 through 7, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. That tells me from the word of God that we should always be teaching our children day in and day out, and throughout the day as we go through our normal daily routine. God has a plan for every child's life. Jeremiah 29 and 11 tells how Jesus felt about children in the New Testament in Matthew 19 and 13 through 15, it tells us that there were there brought unto him little children that he should put his hands on them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them and departed thence. So we know that the Lord loved children and he wanted to allow them to be a part of what was going on at the time. And so we should be the same way, and we should always know that Jesus is looking out for them and he is going to want them to be a part of the spiritual things that are going on in this world and in our churches and in our families and in private education and homeschool education. And then in public education, we know that there are things that we can and cannot do related to spirituality, but there are things that you can do related to moral development. So we will talk about that in a little bit. So we know that in order for Timothy to have been able to do the things that he was doing, he had to have learned them, as the word says, from a child. So someone, we know he had family members that put into him the word of God and helped him in his spiritual development. And you can do this in private school and in homeschool. I know our mission at the school I was principal at, we wanted our students to have a biblical and moral education. We were partnering with our pastor and their parents to provide that great academic education, but also we wanted it based on the moral and religious foundations established in the Word of God. And then we also wanted to, I believe part of spiritual development is to teach them, you know, you are a servant. And it's so important that as you develop in your walk with God, that you learn how to serve others. And so we wanted to teach them service of themselves to God, the family, their church, and then the world, the others out there, their neighbors, you know. Every podcast episode, I'm always looking for resources for you guys to share with you, besides my own knowledge and just the things that I know. I like to share resources with you. And so our example from the starting point of the podcast episode today, it was an example of how preschoolers are so literal in their thinking when you're teaching about God. They are just they're so literal. And so that example was from children's ministry.com, which is a great resource. I used to use it all the time when I was in Sunday school and and Sunday school director and Sunday school teaching. And so I got that from an article called What You Need to Know About Kids' Spiritual Development, and I'll put that in the show notes for you. It's just a great article. I tend to agree with a lot of things that they included, and so I would kind of like to go through, and you can, I'm not going to read their article because it's their article. And I just wanted to think about each stage of a child's spiritual development. And let's talk about the different age groups. And so, first of all, most of the time, I know there are two and three-year-olds that we have in Sunday school, but usually it for school age, we we don't have the two and three-year-olds. So I would like to talk to you a little bit about the four and five-year-olds. We had that's considered preschool, and that was our kindergarten class. We had four and five-year-olds together. And so they are very literal. If you tell them that Jesus is in their heart, well, they're gonna think, where is he? You know, they're gonna be looking for him initially, you know. You have to really explain it, and it takes time and it takes repetition, but also at the same time, they are very inquisitive, they have a lot of questions about God, and they love to sing about the Lord, and they love to express their love for for Jesus. And I remember they're also very good at scripture. I know we were we had a scripture memorizing contest one time in our school, and we thought, well, we're gonna take those scriptures that we learn at school family meeting every morning, and we're gonna put all of those together and we're gonna have them memorize them and have a contest and see who can remember every single one of them for the whole school year. Well, lo and behold, you know, you might be surprised. We thought, oh, four and five-year-olds, the kindergarten class, you know, we're gonna do a little bit easier criteria for them. If they can memorize a line or two from each scripture, you know, we're gonna be happy with that, you know. Well, lo and behold, we had several of them, almost all of them, memorized every single scripture and said it back to back. Now that is what the older kids did, and so you would really be surprised at what they can do. So be sure when you are teaching four and five-year-olds that you are not holding them back, challenge them, don't challenge them to the point of frustration, but allow them to excel in memorizing scripture. Another thing that they like to do is act out biblical stories and so allow them props and things where they can act out during center time or just in Bible time, act those things out. If they're in home school, provide things where your kids can dress up as biblical characters and and act those things out. Also, be sure that you are showing them the love of God and so that they know, hey, this is how God is. God is love, God shows his love, and so we show that love of God by the way that we act toward others. And also we had six to eight-year-olds. That was our elementary class, and they go a step further in their actions and things that they do spiritually. I know this was the time that I received the Holy Ghost and was baptized in Jesus' name, was at six and seven years old. And I really felt the presence of God and and responded. And so many kids do at this age. And so we want to really be aware of that. They want to please God at this age, and they want they're real, they they really want to do what God wants them to do. They love to act out stories too from the Bible. I know also at school we had some Bible games that our elementary class loved to do, and competition, you know, they love competition, and so be sure you can work some competition in there in scripture memory or just in trivia. They like to they like to know that trivia and so and play games with it, and so that's a good thing to do. The main thing with children this age is that they are pretty active and you gotta keep things moving. If you don't keep things moving, then they're gonna get bored, and you don't want them to be bored during Bible time because then they're gonna equate that as Bible time or spiritual time is boring, and we don't want that. So keep it active, keep it interesting, keep it exciting, keep it moving for them. The next age group would be the preteen age group. That is a Sunday school class in our church of nine to 12-year-olds before they join the youth group. And we all know preteens can be a difficult age sometimes to teach because they're just in their own little world, if you know what I mean. They're in their own little world, and we have to join them there. We know these kids all like to talk, especially the girls, you know, and the boys tend to want to rough house. And so knowing that, incorporate that into your lessons, you know, home or or church or school, wherever you're at. I know I'm not talking about public school because we know, again, I'm gonna talk about that in a little bit, but incorporate that into your lessons. I used to teach with a Sunday school teacher, a man Sunday school teacher, and he would get really active, get those boys moving, you know, and get some action going. And there are people who would come in every once in a while and they would think, you know, I'm sure by the looks on their faces, they thought, oh, that's a little much, you know. But I will tell you this we had them listening and we had them asking questions. And so he knew what he was doing. I mean, he he was a guy himself, he wanted action, and so it's so important. Meet them where they're at. If you know where your students are at, meet them there and do what they need. Don't don't be boring. That is one thing preteens cannot stand is boring. So make it interesting, make it lively, get their input, let them be a part of it. That is so, so important. I can't stress that enough. At this age, their thinking goes from literal to abstract, they're able to handle those concepts and have lots of questions about God that even sometimes we may not think of. And so you're gonna have to be studied up yourself and no, you don't have all the answers. And I wouldn't let them think that you have all the answers. I would tell them, I don't know, but you know what? I'll get back to you. If I don't have an answer, I'll get back to you and and we'll talk about it next time. And so meet them there, answer those questions and and be a part of that. Another article I found that I wanted to share with you is from faith and children.org. It's called I Can Know God, A Guide to Children's Spirituality, and I'll put that in the show notes as well. They go through the definition of spirituality and all that. They they put a lot in there, and and I'm not gonna go through all of that. I don't want to go through the article, but there was a man in the article called his name was John Westerhoff, and he was a professor of theology, and he had a theory of faith development that I thought was very good, and I wanted to share that from that article with you. He said faith grows the way that a tree grows, adding layers and rings from the inside out. I thought that was just such a great example that we've all seen the rings from a tree. You know, if you've cut, if it's you've ever seen a slice out of it that's been cut open, you know, you've seen how the rings layer upon each other. And that's the example he used that we never leave a stage of spirituality behind. Instead, it remains a part of the tree, the person, who we are. But we add to that, we add additional things to that to make us the person that we are and the spirituality that we have. I just thought that was a great example. I'd like to talk for just a second about the secular school environment because not all children have the privilege of going to a private school or being homeschooled. And so we know that secular schools can teach ideas that are counter to God's word. And what do you do as a Christian educator or a Christian parent? I think that's where it's all the more important, parents, for you to have a great spiritual environment in your home to where you teach your children the things of God. Because ultimately, as you heard in the opening scriptures in Deuteronomy, it is your responsibility to develop your children's spirituality with God. You can't depend upon the school to teach spiritual concepts to your child. Although schools are able to teach moral development. And I know that when I was teaching in public school, we had a moral component like respect or trustworthiness or you know, honesty, things like that. We would teach those one at a time, and sometimes it would be a whole school focus. And so it was a great opportunity for us to get those good things in teaching children how to become respectable adults, you know, that the public environment could do that. As a teacher, I would also pick out good books that had moral development in them and teach those as read alouds for my students, and then allow them to ask questions related to those read alouds. That's all allowable in public school. And if children will ask questions, and then you just have to be careful how you answer the questions, but you can teach them how to be good people, and then it is up to their parents to teach them spiritual development at home. That is not our job as Christian educators, but we can provide the moral development while we're there in that environment. And we can show them the love of the Lord, you know, so many times my students could feel the love from me. And I was able to have a couple of my students go to Sunday school with me. I invited them and they asked their parents, and their parents said yes, and it became a thing where they went to Sunday school with me all the time. And so it is a possibility that you can do that, but I would not go against any parents' wishes because ultimately the parent is their spiritual development person. Wrap up this podcast episode. I wanted to share a resource that was within the resource I just gave you. It's a guide called Thrive, Cultivating Spiritually Vibrant Homes. And I think it's a great document for your family to reflect on the spiritual condition of your family. And so I will stick that in the show notes as well. And it is like a workbook kind of thing, it's not long, it's it's pretty short really, but it it asks questions and it helps you to work through things for spiritual development in your home. And so I think it's a great resource. I enjoyed talking to you today about spiritual development in children. And there are so many other examples and things that I could say, but I don't want the podcast episode to be too long, so thank you so much for joining me today, and I pray that your children love the Lord all the days of their life. Thank you for joining me today on Educate Me Well. I'm grateful you spent this time with me, and I hope the conversation encouraged and equipped you. If you have ideas for future episodes or questions you'd like me to explore, you can reach me anytime at admin at educatemewell.com and be sure to keep an eye on educateme well.com. The website will be up and growing as new episodes are released. Until next time, keep making a difference in the lives of children!