Children’s Ministry That Fits: Beyond One-Size-Fits-All Approaches to Nurturing Children’s Spirituality

Children know God. They encounter God in diverse ways as they walk along the spiritual journey. Amidst this diversity, four distinct avenues for connecting with God emerge in the lives of children: word, emotion, symbol, and action. These are the four spiritual styles, broad approaches to spirituality and faith through which children experience God and make sense of their lives in the world around them.
Children's Ministry that Fits blends insightful research, relevant theory, and practical ministry into a guidebook for discovering and understanding children's spiritual styles. Drawing from theology, personal experience, and the spiritual lives of children, David M. Csinos offers practical wisdom that will help pastors, parents, and teachers to move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches to children's ministry and begin nurturing the spiritual lives of children in welcoming and inclusive environments.

"David Csinos gives us practical insights and ideas to move children's ministry 'beyond one size fits all' and fashion our approaches around the lives of children and their emerging spiritual styles. Csinos provides the helpful lens of the four spiritual styles to guide congregations in developing practical strategies and activities that address the spiritual needs of all children. A great resource for all those who care about the spiritual life of children."
–John Roberto
Editor of Lifelong Faith Journal
LifelongFaith Associates

"David Csinos' research with rather than just about children honors children's ways of knowing God and recognizes them as fellow spiritual pilgrims on a journey. Children's Ministry that Fits will transform the church's ministry with children and equip the church to move into its unknown but exciting future, the hope-filled future to which I believe Jesus is calling his church. I am greatly encouraged by this new voice in the field of children's spirituality."
–Elsie Rempel
Director of Christian Nurture
Mennonite Church Canada

“Accessible to parents, practitioners, and undergraduates, this work seems likely to remain a part of informed conversation about childhood spirituality for some time.”
–Ron Bruner, Co-Director of the Intergenerational Faith Center, as reviewed in the Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care

"I would encourage everyone who engages in leading worship, for whatever age, to read and note the contents of this book. . . . Readers will discover much to challenge and inspire in the agenda that Csinos has set out so clearly in this book."
–Church Times

"Dave Csinos' work provides a foundational resource for those wanting to engage in intentional and faithful ministry with children. . . . Csinos' foundational insight into children's faith and spiritual styles provides helpful information for all faith traditions that seek to join in ministry with children, providing a space for the spiritual flourishing of children."
–Religious Education

"However it is used, this book does offer another prophetic voice speaking strongly to the importance of listening to children."
-Journal of Childhood and Religion

David M. Csinos is founder and president of Faith Forward, an ecumenical organization for innovation in ministry with children and youth. Dave is author of Children’s Ministry that Fits and Children’s Ministry in the Way of Jesus (with Ivy Beckwith), and editor of Faith Forward, volumes 1 and 2 (with Melvin Bray). Dave is a regular speaker on topics such as children and youth, faith formation, and intercultural ministry. An inaugural Teaching for Ministry Fellow at Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto, Dave holds degrees from Wilfrid Laurier University, McMaster University, and Union Presbyterian Seminary. Dave and his wife, Jenny, live in Halifax, Nova Scotia.