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Erin Smith: Trauma and Children’s Ministry

Christ and Culture Podcast | November 11, 2022
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In the Christ and Culture podcast with Ken Keathley and Benjamin Quinn, we explore how the Christian faith intersects all avenues of today’s culture through conversations with leading thinkers.

Today’s Episode:

Dr. Erin Smith is a developmental psychologist, and she joins us to discuss how churches can serve children who’ve experienced trauma. What would a trauma-informed small group look like? How can you organize children’s ministry in a way that is sensitive and responsive to how children communicate their trauma? Are only large churches equipped to serve people in this way?

Plus, in “Headlines” Dr. David W. Jones explains what inflation is, how it’s affecting you, and what you can do about it. In “On My Bookshelf,” Dr. Steve McKinion recommends The Spirit of Early Christian Thought by Robert Louis Wilken.

Timestamps:

  • “Headlines” with Dr. David W. Jones (1:39)
  • “Christ & Culture Conversation” with Dr. Erin Smith (13:20)
  • “On My Bookshelf” with Dr. Steve McKinion (45:19)

Further Resources

Behavior is children’s way of expressing unmet needs.

Highlights

  • “Behavior is children’s way of expressing unmet needs.”
  • “As churches I don’t think we need to go out looking for people who’ve experienced trauma, because they’re already in the room. Statistically, they’re there. Children, adults, teenagers.”
  • “For children who’ve experienced trauma, there’s a giant wall between them and Jesus. It’s the job of the church to deconstruct that wall. How do we do that? By showing them in our embodied forms: this is what love looks like, this is safe, you are valued, you are loved. When theyexperience that in embodied form through the people of the church — which we call ministry — we slowly take the bricks from that wall down, so that when we… point to Jesus in an explicit way, they’ve already experienced it in their hearts.”

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The Christ and Culture podcast with Drs. Ken Keathley and Benjamin Quinn seeks to connect faith with every aspect of your life.

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