Forum 2: Wink Practice for Accessing the Text for All Ages
December 18, 2025 11:20 AM
Walter Wink, in his introduction to Patricia Van Ness' Transforming Bible Study with Children: A Guide for Learning Together, wrote: "The ruling assumption here is that children have not only the capacity but also the need to discover the truth for themselves. Christian education should not just be a process of socializing children into Christian values, but also of exorcising the false values of the dominant culture. This requires something seldom taught younger children: the capacity for critical, independent thought. That is the great gift of a genuinely open, questioning method. Questioning is empowerment....To teach this way requires that the teacher also undergo the same process as the child: empowerment to discover truth for oneself, learning to think, living in the openness of the questions. What makes this approach so exciting and rewarding is that the teacher also undergoes the process of transformation in the very process of teaching."
1) What's the best question you've gotten from a child about a biblical text or theology that stopped you in your tracks and helped you learn/reconsider/see something in a valuable new way?
2) Where in your congregation's life are children's and adults' open-ended questions about biblical texts and theology most invited and explored?
3) Where might the genuinely open, questioning method be further brought into your congregation's life for all ages?
4) From the practice: after you have practiced this first step in Wink's methodology, "Accessing the Text," share with the other Wink Fellows what you learned about the process, the text, or yourself.
Discussion (2)
1) A youth asked if God is i control if we really have free will. Through dialogue, we arrived at with 7 billion people in the world and all the destructive weapons in the world God must be quite powerful in that humanity has not destroyed itself with all our free will.
2) The children and youth have moments of asking open-ended questions in their worship time when they depart from the sanctuary after the children's time, but there needs to be more intentionality.
3) I envision this in small group ministries as well as a dinner church model based on reading/hearing a
Jesus story while breaking bread. While this is not the best scenario for the Wink method, I am playing with giving everyone clay in worship for the First Sunday in Lent, giving space to fully hear the Gen. 2 & 3 reading, possibly crafting the sermon as a series of questions for pondering, and inviting them to mold the clay in response to the question, "What is the temptation, anxiety, desire to control that I need to surrender to God this Lent. The sermon will be followed by a recessional where people will be invited to place their molded clay on the communion rail as an act of giving it to God.
4) While I encounter the text in my devotional study, I am reminded more strongly than before of the importance of just encountering the text for itself and letting it speak before I pick up the commentaries.
Developing and Using Questions, Forum 2 - Reenie Ruckdaeschel, Cohort 2
1) What's the best question you've gotten from a child about a biblical text or theology that stopped you in your tracks and helped you learn/reconsider/see something in a valuable new way? Early this past fall, our 9-12 year olds were discussing the Genesis story, when Adam and Eve disappointed God. A ten year old boy asked if God hated gay people. Living in our liberal bubble of Evanston, Illinois, I think I speak for both myself and the other teacher when I say I was caught off guard, literally stopped in our tracks. That the question of God’s disappointment be interpreted as hate, was also disconcerting. And - it was not we teachers who answered the question - rather, the other children jumped in and very calmly explained that there was no way that God hated gay people, that he loved us all. We had a really great discussion that day, and my admiration for the kids at St. Luke’s - both those who questioned and those who answered - really grew. It’s hard as an adult when you are confronted with questions that seem as though they shouldn’t be asked - but it’s not hard for kids - they can really speak freely. And weeks later, the young man who asked the question seemed to be experimenting with his appearance in ways that would indicate he was more comfortable expressing himself - and I think his peers here had a lot to do with that.
2) Where in your congregation's life are children's and adults' open-ended questions about biblical texts and theology most invited and explored? I think they are welcome throughout our church - my daughter and I have participated in several book clubs here at St. Luke’s - most of which are at least inter-generational by invitation, and some even by attendance. One of my favorites was an exploration of a “choose your own adventure” style book, Why Is There Suffering. I really wondered if some of the adults in the group were up to the task of admitting the tough questions that might grow out of the many options provided, including those that followed atheistic or agnostic paths. The kids were open and honest and most of the adults were equally so, admitting their own questioning, especially during times of distress. One of the difficulties, however, was with parents who either forced their child to answer or tried to re-explain their own child’s response.
3) Where might the genuinely open, questioning method be further brought into your congregation's life for all ages? This fall we are piloting a youth bible study group for children ages 12 and up - we will be specifically training our leadership team (initially adults, then a second cohort of older youth) in the Winks Method of Transforming Sacred Texts. The leaders are eager to dive into the method this summer and demonstrate application through their own unique and personal modes, including role playing games, podcasting, and storytelling.
4) From the practice: after you have practiced this first step in Wink's methodology, "Accessing the Text," share with the other Wink Fellows what you learned about the process, the text, or yourself. I’ve been practicing this method with our 9-12 year old students - I was afraid, honestly, that they would reject the idea of acting things out, especially my older kids, many of whom are on the cusp or have already turned 13. They all embraced it - and it was super fun to see them run to the younger classrooms announcing that “Jesus is alive” after reading and interpreting the Just Love bible’s story of the Resurrection! What I learned about myself is that I love trying new things and that taking a risk is not my usual tendency, but I can do it!
