Fostering spirituality in a preschool Sunday school with a team of grandfathers using Blessing -Based Spiritual Nurture

Abstract

This intergenerational program explored the fostering of spirituality in preschool children with a team of Grandpas in Sunday school class at First Congregational Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado, using the principles of Blessing Based Spiritual Nurture. Spirituality was defined as relational consciousness encompassing four categories: child/self, child/people, child/world and child/God. Five videotaped sessions documented evidence of the categories of relational consciousness. The evidence of increased spirituality was triangulated with pre/post parent input, researcher observations, and previous research. This project challenged the notion that Christian Education is dependent upon cognitive development, and therefore should not begin until age twelve.