CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
There is need to revisit our understanding of the place and structure of children ministry in the church. De Vries [1]urges for a new understanding of the place of children within the church community. Similarly, and specifically focussing on children and youth, Strong[2] argues that traditional children Ministry has been practised as “an independent ministry, leading to the isolation of the children from the larger church community”. Knoetze[3] focuses on children and their parents and identifies a need to explore who must reach out to the children within the church family and also what their unique contextual needs are to inform children Ministry practices and teachings. In line with this viewpoint, and with the emphasis on children, Hendriks and Grobbelaar[4] identify the need to develop new paradigms and new ways of doing in terms of serving children. The role of the church in supporting and caring for vulnerable groups, such as children and youth, is, among others, also to alleviate suffering, to empower them with knowledge and skills related to healthy living (including spiritual health) and to practice caring for others.
