From Voices to Vision Integrating Children’s Experiences into Christian Development Theology

Abstract

World Vision, a child-focused Christian organisation, seeks every child to experience God’s love, and that their perspectives contribute to theological reflection and practice. We adopted a child-participation approach, centring their voices to enrich theological reflection and programmatic development. In-depth interviews with 658 children across Bolivia, Senegal, Lesotho, Uganda, Albania, Iraq, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, reflected lived experiences of love, God’s love, and hope. The importance of human connectivity, helping children feel loved and grow in hope emerged as the overarching theme. 7 Christian theologians constructed theological understanding of how the transformative power of God’s love leads to hope, expressed through six measurable “signs of hope” rooted in Biblical doctrine and informed by the children’s voices. The child-informed, child-centred, child-relevant approach, offers theological depth, strategic programmatic direction, and a practical measurement tool. This article outlines methodology, theological insights, and implications for integrating child-voice into Christian development work, furthering practical theology and child-focused practice.