Community and collaboration are an imperative part of Christian life and Christian leadership. Without a shared leadership model, the church may not be growing, serving, and leading as it should. In the beginning it was an “us” who created – leading the world into existence. And while they led, they served. Their breath went out, infusing the the expansive void with life and community. Within this Trinitarian relationship, Christ lives and moves.

The church includes all individuals who dwell in the grace of Christ and cannot become unified in the dance of the holy Trinity, if it does not include some of its members. Children who dwell in this grace are a part of the church. They also live in Christ. Therefore, if we choose not to include children within leadership (as servers and as leaders of the church), the church cannot exist as Trinitarian.

The opinions, needs, understandings and spirituality of young Christians ought to be a part of our leadership. If kids are disallowed from the fellowship of leadership and service, they may never grow into fully-developed Christians. Perhaps this does not mean that we invite toddlers to sit on our board of elders. It does, however, mean listening to the unique understandings of children, valuing their opinions, and making space for their spiritual needs within the entire body of the church.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus instructs, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” From a Trinitarian perspective, Christian leaders do not relegate “the childlike” to the nursery but instead involve all of God’s children as a reflection of the diversity present within the body of Christ.