Statement of Faith

KidZ at Heart International is an independent, non-denominational, registered 501(c)(3) Christian mission designed to equip people to reach and teach kids for Christ within their own culture. As such, we are consistent with the core beliefs of orthodox Christianity in both faith and practice. We welcome to our Board, staff, and volunteer team likeminded individuals who wholeheartedly commit to the same orthodoxy in both content of teaching and lifestyle.

Apostle’s Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.

Amen.

Core Values

  • We cherish children, because God cherishes children and desires to have a personal relationship with each and every child. Children are not just tools for the church to use to attract or evangelize adults; they have their own God-given value. Therefore, we are advocates for children and their need for love, respect, and nurturing as active members of God’s family within a faith community comprised of church and home.

  • Ministries have the most enduring impact when local leaders own and contextualize them. Therefore, we work for and through local churches, Christian non-profit agencies, and other networks of adults, equipping leaders to help children within their own culture to fall deeply in love with Jesus and continue growing as his disciples.

  • God's plan is for the faith community, comprised of church and home, to serve as the primary developers of faith formation in children; the church’s job is to equip the family and support its work in this critical endeavor. KidZ at Heart’s training assists the church to help adults fall deeply in love with Jesus so that these leaders may be purposeful in living out their Christian faith before the children of their churches, homes, and communities.

  • Ministry is best done in the context of the culture in which a person lives. Therefore, we do not seek to impose North American culture, structures, and “style” on others. We believe that local leaders have wisdom and discernment about their own culture and the children they love. We support and encourage these leaders as they choose those materials and supplies readily available for their local church or family leaders. We encourage leaders to be creative and flexible as they seek to reach children in ways that are culturally relevant.

  • Adults and children both develop spiritual values most readily in the context of meaningful relationships. Therefore, our projects are designed to be ongoing, enabling KidZ at Heart’s trainers to invest in personal relationships with key ministry leaders over their multiple-year commitments. Likewise, children’s leaders are equipped to go beyond short-term teaching of content to invest their lives in the transformational shepherding of children and families.

  • Life-changing training must be relational, experiential, and relevant. Everything we do is designed to be reproduced (2 Tim 2:2), equipping multiple levels of church and family leaders to reach the children of their own homes and communities and to share these skills with others. We encourage a formational model of discipleship that goes beyond information to lifelong transformation. We are not satisfied until children know, love, and follow Jesus.

  • We are responsible to be wise stewards of God’s resources, including skills, spiritual gifts, time, finances, and materials. Therefore, we continually evaluate the ministry, as we strive to provide the highest-quality equipping ministry in the most cost-effective manner. Our ministry objectives are primarily accomplished through gifted volunteers serving in their areas of passion and expertise and funded by individuals who have a heart for children and Jesus.

Spiritual Formation for Children

  • Spiritual formation for children is the lifelong process by which the Holy Spirit serves as the child’s teacher, deepening the child’s relationship with God, transforming the child into Christlikeness from the inside out, and generating an overflow of love toward God, self, and others (Rom 8:27-29, Mk 12:28-31). This is best done in relationship with members of the faith community including those from the child’s church, home, school, and elsewhere (Deut 6).

  • The child’s view of God is being formed, for good or bad, from conception onward (Psalm 51:6, 71:6 139:13; Luke 1:44; Job 10:10). The quality of the relationships that children have with the key adults in their lives greatly affects their view of God and attachment to him. Children are dependent upon adults for food and shelter, security and value, and loving relationships. The trustworthiness of adults in providing these determines a child’s future ability to build trusting relationships with God, self, and others (Matthew 18:6). The essence of Deuteronomy 6 is for adults to first have a love commitment to and confident faith in God, and then to take every opportunity in daily life to pass these on to their children through participation, modeling, instruction, and encouragement. Since children look to adults for guidance, there is an increased responsibility for adults to model lives that are being transformed (I Corinthians 11:1). Adults who provide loving environments built on identity in Christ help the child understand unconditional love from God, love based on who the child is rather than any ability to please others. When God’s love is modeled in the sphere of the child’s home, children learn to be with God and to develop an authentic relationship with him that results in real change, spiritual transformation.

  • God loves children and calls them to himself for relationship. While the Holy Spirit leads children to know and respond to his love (Psalm 139:13-17), God has given the adults in a child’s home and faith community the responsibility to impact the key spheres of a child’s life: the child’s home, spiritual practices, engagement with biblical truth, holistic health, and loving relationships (Psalm 78:5-7). Because adults control most of the child’s environments, they have the charge and opportunity to partner with God in nurturing the spiritual formation of the child. By staying alert to the formative influence of the Holy Spirit, setting a pace of life conducive to reflective processing, and providing opportunities to pursue personal, intimate connections with God, both the home and faith community are able to offer routines/rituals, symbols, and stories that nurture the child’s ability to connect with the Holy Spirit as “teacher” (John 14:15-17).

  • The fruit of spiritual formation for the child is Christlikeness. Adults can cultivate ways for children to be with God in deepening friendship, keeping the focus on God and leaving the results to the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:3). Spiritual formation for children is significantly different from traditional Christian education, which focuses on knowledge of Scripture (intellectual) and obedient application (behavioral). Formation is relational and personal, as governed by the Holy Spirit as the child hears, reads, and engages with Scripture in age-appropriate ways. Scripture is central to the spiritual formation of children, but transactional cognitive and behavioral changes, important as they are, are not sufficient evidences of spiritual health. Instead, spiritual formation is evidenced by a growing, lifelong love for God, self, and others (relational changes) within the child.

  • The child’s love for God, self, and others (Mark 12:28-31), including sensitivity to Christlike behaviors, serves as evidence of the child’s spiritual formation as love overflows in his daily living. This is a picture of the abundant life Jesus came to give (John 10:10). Knowing God’s Word is vitally important, but biblical knowledge alone is not sufficient to bring transformation. Spiritual transformation happens when the follower of Jesus allows the Word and the Holy Spirit to work in tandem through regular spiritual disciplines. The most formative community for a child is within the child’s own home. The church has a significant responsibility to resource and support families by presenting role models, relationships, rituals, symbols, stories, and opportunities to respond to God in tangible ways. The family who serves those in the world in love provides children with the opportunities to share God’s love with the world.

  • We are created to be in relationship with God and others. However, we all suffer from the effects of the fall, and from a very early age we are predisposed to pursue life independently from God. Because of this, each person needs new life and transformation. Children have a special responsiveness to spiritual practices throughout the childhood years. Starting this process of nurturing relationships while the child is in the most critical stages of human development (birth to five years) provides greater opportunities for movement toward God and a reduction in the damage from moving away from God (Deuteronomy 30:19). Nurturing a child’s great interest and openness to God is particularly powerful, because it allows for the early, healthy development of lifelong relational structures needed for life and a preparation for the child to be aware of God’s presence in every aspect of life.

  • The childhood years offer a unique window of opportunity to partner with the Holy Spirit in the spiritual formation of children (Psalm 33:15). At a very young age, children already have a special capacity to notice and respond to God and a willingness to engage in prayer and other formational practices. If these practices are developmentally appropriate, continue evolving as children mature, and take into account the uniqueness of each child, they can establish lifelong patterns. It is in these youngest and most formative years of human life that both formation of Christian faith and the natural developmental stages are able to be impacted simultaneously. This allows spiritual growth to enrich all of life (Psalm 63:1).