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04506
November 11, 2004
NCC adopts policy on children
As kids’ lives are nourished, communities flourish, report says
by Jerry L. Van Marter
ST. LOUIS — The General Assembly of the National Council of Churches (NCC) today adopted a comprehensive policy on children that calls churches to exhibit Jesus’ welcoming acceptance of children.
“We have not respected children as we might,” said Anne Tuohy, a member of the Episcopal Church and chair of the NCC’s Committee on Justice for Children and their Families. “This statement is really about values ¾ about valuing children.”
The policy — TheChurch and Children: Visions and Goals for the 21st Century — is the NCC’s first comprehensive statement on children. It contains 51 goals grouped under seven vision categories:
- Faith communities
- Family
- Education
- Safety
- Arts, Recreation and Culture
- Economic Security
- Health
“This policy is an invitation to think more deeply about how we honor children in our church, our society, our world,” Tuohy said. “It lays a common foundation of Christians working together, taking the best interests of children to heart.”
The policy is predicated on the “theological imperative” that “as God has nurtured the church so too we are to nurture children in the love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ — teaching them to know and love the Lord, encouraging their spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit, and tending to their physical, emotional and spiritual needs.”
The biblical mandate for the policy is clear, the policy says: “Jesus grew from boyhood to manhood within the shelter and nurture of the community of faith. He taught, healed, proclaimed and welcomed those whom society would toss aside. His teachings, through word and deed, on children rebuked a cultural standard of excluding and devaluing children.”
Current realities belie that mandate, Tuohy said. In 1968, 15 percent of America’s children lived below the federal poverty level. Today that number is 16.7 percent. Alluding to Proverbs 29:18 — “Without a vision the people will perish” — the report states: “Without basic food, shelter, employment, education and community, hope perishes.”
Because “every child is a unique gift from God,” the report says, churches must:
- “meet all their basic needs”
- “love, shelter, protect and defend children committed to our care and in our communities”
- “nurture and support families in caring for their children, acting in their children’s best interest, and recognizing and fostering their children’s spirituality and unique gifts”
- “advocate for the integrity of childhood and the dignity of all children at every level of our religious, civic and political structures”
The payoff for such commitment to children is clear, the report concludes: “When children realize their potential and fulfill their dreams, our communities flourish and all are enriched beyond measure.”
“Let us recognize that all children, regardless of economic status, are faced with choices and threats that can be bewildering,” Tuohy said. “Our charge is to nurture children into the faith and teach them the values we live by.”
Anne Tuohy:
Emerged when realized that the NCC had not addressed children in their fullness. Lived through a lot of dialogue and exploration about how to live into our biblical mandate.
Focus is domestic because our call to ministry is primarily within the United States.
Not a perfect document — a living document. Regular review is built into it — it is growing and we are growing with it.
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