ABC 2014 課碼 (Workshop): 教室 (Room #): Room 200 講員 (Speaker): 林淑美牧師 授課語言 : 華 / 英 題目 (Topic): 兒童靈命成長的研究 專題簡介 : 針對南加州 15 間台福基督教會 137 位三至六年級 學童，研究父母、主日學老師和牧師對兒童靈命 塑造的影響。 北美華人基督徒教育大會 北美華人基督徒教育大會 Access Bible Convention

林淑美牧師 Amy Shu-Mei Lin 教育背景 : Talbot School of Theology, La Mirada, CA Ph. D. 2013Emphasis: Educational studies Talbot School of Theology, La Mirada, CA M. Div. 1999Emphasis: General Pastoral Emporia State University, Emporia, KS M.B.A. 1983Emphasis: Business Admin.

經歷 : 愛恩台福基督教會 Evangelical Formosan Church of Irvine 台語堂 / 教育牧師 Taiwanese Ministry/Education Pastor 1999 – Present 基督徒教育 Christian Education 1999 – 2005 文教中心 Education Center 2002 – 2009 兒童事工 Children‘s Ministry 2010 – Present 台語堂牧養 Taiwanese Ministry

研究目的 : Children's Spiritual Formation Parents Non- parental Adults 父母 主日學教師 和牧師 兒童靈命塑造

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM

Description of the Problem A. Regardless of the understanding of the important role that parents play in their children’s lives for spiritual formation, many parents fail to make their home a spiritually nurturing environment.

B. Children’s spiritual formation generally is overlooked in the Evangelical Formosan churches (EFCs). or

Importance of the Study Children’s spiritual formation is heavily dependent on God’s truth being both modeled and intentionally taught by parents and non-parental adults (Sunday school teachers and pastors).

Statement of the Research Questions The primary research question for the study is: What is the relationship between parents and non-parental adults and the spiritual formation of children in the Evangelical Formosan churches in Southern California?

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE

1 st domain - Children’s spiritual formation 2 nd domain – The relationship between parents and the spiritual formation of children. 3 rd domain – The relationship between non-parental adults and the spiritual formation of children. 4 th domain - The social context of children’s spiritual formation in the Evangelical Formosan Churches.

CHAPTER 3 CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW INTEGRATION

A. Children are valuable and need to be nurtured as they develop their faith. B. Parents and non-parental Adults (pastors and Sunday school teachers) are called to nurture the spiritual formation of children. 1. The role of parents is to impress on their children the love and character of God. 2. Pastors and Sunday school teachers are called to offer spiritual nurturing to children.

C. Case studies of nurturing children to follow the Lord Parents in the Old Testament Parents in the New Testament Non-parental Adults in the Old Testament Non-parental Adults in the New Testament

CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND PROCEDURES

Research Design This study aims to explore the relationship between parents and non- parental adults and the spiritual formation of children. Thus, a quantitative research design, including a descriptive and correlational research method, was used.

The study used a self-reporting instrument, composed of eight short questionnaires, with a total of 84 items: (a) The Background Information Questionnaire (BIQ, 9 items) (b) The Inventory of Parent Attachment (IParA, 10 items) (c) The Inventory of Pastor Attachment (IPasA, 10 items) (d) The Inventory of Sunday school Teacher Attachment (ISSTA, 10 items)

(e) The Questionnaire for Relationship between Parents and Pastors (RPP, 14 items) (f) The Questionnaire for Relationship between Parents and Sunday school teachers (RPSST, 13 items) (g) The Revised Religious Experience Questionnaire (RREQ, 12 items) (h) Six additional questions from chapter 3 It should take approximately 35 minutes to complete the entire survey instrument.

Sample Selection Procedures The population of this study was 137 third to sixth grade children in the 15 Evangelical Formosan Churches (EFCs) in Southern California. This was a convenience sample because I serve as an EFC pastor and have been involved in the children’s ministry for the past eight years, and I am known in the EFC Pastor Association and am familiar with the conditions of other EFC churches’ children ministry as well.

CHAPTER 5 RESULTS

與兒童靈命 的關係 父母主日學 老師 牧師 Attachment 依戀 XXX Interaction 互動 XX Modeling 模範 X

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS

Inventory of Parents Attachment (IParA) scores Revised Religious Experience Questionnaire (RREQ) scores 14% First, it was found that the relationship between the child and the child's feeling about his or her closest parents is associated with children's spiritual formation.

Second, the relationship between the child and the child's feeling about his or her closest non-parental adult (pastor and Sunday school teacher) is also associated with children's spiritual formation. Inventory of Pastor Attachment (IPasA) scores Inventory of Sunday School Teachers Attachment (ISSTA) scores Revised Religious Experience Questionnaire (RREQ) scores 14% 13%

Third, among the five kind of relationships (the relationship between parents and children, the relationship between pastors and children, the relationship between Sunday school teachers and children, the relationship between parents and pastors, and the relationship between parents and Sunday school teachers), parents, as much as pastors, were revealed to be significantly important people related to children's spiritual formation.

Implications for Ministry and Education Practice In this section, these implications will be discussed for Parents Non-parental adults (pastors and Sunday school teachers) Relationship between parents and non-parental adults at home Relationship between non-parental adults and parents in the church. EFCs churches’ leaders

Limitations of the Study There are five limitations on the generalization of the findings of this study.

Recommendations for Future Research

Church Non-parental adults (Sunday school teacher, Pastors) Family Parents

Sunday school teachers Pastors Children’s Spiritual Formation