The qualities of children that the Bible verses refer to as admirable include humility; trust & openness; and being teachable rather than full of worldly pride and self to achieve things without God. Further to this, in an Ecological Systems & Socio-cultural approach (Erickson & Vygotsky) of developmental psychology children haven’t built up the levels of self-consciousness and impacts of outside influences that inhibit disclosure of their self-concept and belief systems against perceptions of potential societal. This can include evangelism – ‘The Great Commission’.

PERMA+ stands for Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning & Accomplishment (+ being sleep, nutrition and exercise) (Seligman). This understanding of the interactions between individuals, meaning making and wellbeing fits into the original intentions between God and humankind; more specifically through worship and evangelism, where the Spirit enables us to be more like Christ and enables the outworking of Him as a witness/light in the world. It links well with the socio-cultural approach to children’s development in psychology and the application of the ‘Great Commission’ for children.

Music is a great tool for teaching theology and embedding it within individuals as a form of spiritual formation. It works to facilitate worship and builds elements to facilitate evangelism by children. This can also be stated as the vertical and horizontal of ministry formation. More specifically, through the act of singing and listening, teaching and evangelism takes place for both those in the group and subsequently those they encounter in their everyday lives. Music being a cross-cultural institution, builds connections and bridges across church and secular spaces. As such, it is an effective and efficient modality for fostering ministry formation by means of worship and evangelism with children by children underpinned by Seligman’s PERMA+ theoretical framework.