Ep 125 - Creativity, Faith, and Early Brain Development with Dawn Rundman

About this episode

Dawn Rundman discusses the intersection of creativity, faith, and early brain development, offering practical suggestions for nurturing children's faith in church settings.

Dawn and Ruth welcome Dawn Rundman, a publishing professional at Augsburg Fortress since 2002 who also happens to have a PhD in developmental psychology. Her book Little Steps, Big Faith dives into using what we know about early childhood development to nurture children's faith through rituals, language, music, symbols, and worship. Dawn's suggestions for churches are practical and brilliant: upgrade those sad nurseries, provide higher-quality worship activity bags (not just broken crayons and photocopied sheets), create intergenerational making opportunities, and actually showcase children's art instead of hiding it away. Dawn also talks about creativity and discipline: how she leaves home to write because inspiration isn't enough, you need structure. She connects creativity and spirituality through communal worship traditions, showing how the practices that shape little brains also shape our own capacity for wonder and connection. This episode is for parents, church leaders, anyone who works with children, or anyone who's ever wondered why some environments nurture creativity while others shut it down. Because luck might be the residue of design, but good design starts with…

People in this episode

Hosts: Ruth Hetland, Dawn Trautman

Guest: Dawn Rundman

Topics covered

• creativity
• faith
• early childhood development
• church practices
• spirituality
• community engagement

Keywords

• creativity
• faith
• early development
• church
• children
• worship
• community

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Augsburg Fortress, Patreon

Books & works: Little Steps, Big Faith

More episodes of Created Creative Podcast

• Ep 129 - Because Sometimes You Need to Cross an Ocean to Remember What Matters · June 8, 2026 · 22 min
• Ep 128 - Brian Spahr - Writing 59 Songs in a Year: Brian’s Return to Songwriting · May 24, 2026 · 25 min
• Ep 127 - The Magic is in the Pivot · May 11, 2026 · 14 min
• Ep 126 - Thomas Maltman on Making Stories Real · April 27, 2026 · 35 min
• Ep 124 - Creativity Grows Best in Good Soil · April 6, 2026 · 26 min
• Ep 123 - Cleaning for Holy Week and the Moravian Gravestone Tradition (Because Sometimes Sacred Preparation Involves a Really Good Scrub) · March 30, 2026 · 16 min