Mollie Painton is a licensed psychologist and play therapist from Fort Collins, Colo., and founder of the SpiritPlay Institute. She is the author of the 2007 book Encouraging Your Child’s Spiritual Intelligence and says that spiritual children – compassionate and wise – can be healers and teachers for the world.

Kevin E. Lawson is a professor of Christian education at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif. He helped organize a national conference in 2003 on children’s spirituality (such conferences are being held every three years) and can speak about trends in children’s ministry.

Marcia McQuitty, an experienced preschool educator, is associate professor of childhood ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Brett Webb-Mitchell, a Presbyterian minister, is founder and director of the School of the Pilgrim in Carrboro, North Carolina, which encourages people to experience pilgrimages and other Christian practices. A former president of the religion division of the American Association on Mental Retardation, Webb-Mitchell is the author of God Plays Piano Too: The Spiritual Lives of […]

Phyllis Mark is coordinator of children’s meditation programs at the Birmingham Shambhala Meditation Center in Alabama. The center offers programs for children to learn about Buddhism and meditation.

Holly Catterton Allen is associate professor of Christian ministries and director of the Children and Family Ministry Program at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Ark. She frequently speaks and writes on children’s spirituality.

Catherine Stonehouse is Orlean Bullard Beeson Professor of Christian Discipleship at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., and co-author of Children Matter: Celebrating Their Place in the Church, Family and Community.

Yvonne M. Vissing is a sociology professor at Salem State College in Salem, Mass. She is the author of Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Homeless Children and Families in Small-Town America and can speak about the spiritual lives of homeless children.

Marcia J. Bunge is professor of theology and humanities at Christ College, the Honors College of Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Ind. She directs the Child in Religion and Ethics Project, funded by the Lilly Endowment, whose goal is to strengthen the theological and ethical understanding of children. Bunge is the editor of The Child in Christian Thought and co-editor […]