Being the father of three grown and now-married children, I have longed since believed that Christian Education is primarily home-made and that the setting of the family is the best and most effective framework for modelling and teaching the truths of the Christian faith.
Please Note: I recognise that not all homes consist of Dad, Mum and 2.4 kids! There are many one-parent families in our community. I also recognise that not all children have Christian parents. We will need sensitivity and love as we seek to put into practice the principles outlined below.
Something else that I have learned as the father of three grown and now-married children is that this calling to bring up my children in the training and instruction of the Lord is no easy task!
If my conviction about the centrality of the family regarding Christian education is correct, then what is the responsibility of the local Church towards the parents of growing children and teenagers?
My short answer is that the Church's part is to support, compliment and encourage Christian parents in their God-ordained ministry of bringing up their children in the ways of the Kingdom of God. I do not believe that the Church was to ever usurp the role of the parents in the area of Christian Education.
So, how can a local Church support the parents in their priority role as Christian Educators without crossing the line and taking over the task?
I was deeply challenged a few years ago when I read a book by Pastor Jack Hayford called, "The Church on the Way". The book told the story of the Church where Jack was the Senior Pastor. One chapter that especially caught my attention was entitled 'Feed My Lambs' and it described how the Lord Jesus challenged that particular Church over its failure to give sufficient priority to the ministry of nurturing the children of that congregation.
There is always value in reviewing and evaluating how we are doing - as individual families and as a Church - in this vital calling of Christian education? It is good to go back to square one and ask the Head of the Church for specific direction concerning His Will for His Lambs. To propose such an evaluation is not to suggest that what we are doing is necessarily wrong.
At the same time, we ought not to assume that the way we are doing it is necessarily right for now. Waiting on the Lord and seeking His confirmation or re-direction brings a new sense of vision and commitment as we walk in the newness or freshness of that guidance. The Lord may well confirm that the way things are at present are the way He wants them. Then again, our openness to Him as we deliberately seek His guidance may enable the Spirit of God to build a new vision among us.
Let us not be presumptuous in this or any other area of our Church life and ministry. Let's ask the Lord for either confirmation or re-direction. As part of a process of re-evaluation, I offer the following thoughts that might help you answer the "what", "why" and "how" questions that are part of every effective review.
[1] THE PLACE OF THE HOME
It is evident from both Old and New Testaments that the home is to be the place and parents are to be the people through which children receive their primary and foundational teaching of Christian values and understanding. As the children of Israel stood on the plains of Moab ready to enter in to the promised land, Moses gave that new generation some clear teaching about their relationship to God and to each other. In Deuteronomy 6/1-7, parents are given specific directives concerning the teaching of their children.
These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you. Hear, O Israel : The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
In other words, they were to teach their children in all the everyday events of life.....to let their words and example leave no part of life untouched.....to let the lifestyle of their family model or demonstrate the values of the Kingdom of God.
In the New Testament we turn to a passage like Ephesians 6/4 and we read...... "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."
We also know from Church History that Jewish children had their understanding of faith strengthened as they went to school and learned at the feet of the rabbis. But the school was never meant to be a substitute for the influence of the home and the teachers were never meant to take the place of the parents. It is a sad fact that, in many Churches, there are those parents who seem to have transferred the responsibility of their children's Christian education to the Church. It is equally sad that very often the Church has become culpable before God by accepting that responsibility.
In those cases, the centre of teaching has shifted from the home to the Church. What we have done with our children with their general, "secular" education, we have also tended to do with regard to Christian Education. In other words, in the same way that we send our children to school during the week for their formal education, we also send them to the Church for their Christian Education.
I strongly believe that we need to re-capture the truth that Christian Education is home-made and that the Church must do all that it can to ensure that this privilege and responsibility is fulfilled by the parents. The Church needs to function in a way that enables, encourages and equips the parents to teach their children by example and word.
[2] THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH
In making those previous statements, I do not want in any way to undervalue the role of the Church. What I am seeking to do is invest greater value and significance into the role of the parents. So what is the role of the Church if the parents are to have the primary responsibility for the training of their children? In one word, SUPPORT. The Christian Education role of the Church is to support, encourage and complement the function of the parents.
This can be done through the many children's and youth programmes of the Church. The corporate setting in which the children can meet with their peers and enjoy activities that can only be found in groups is a unique contribution that the Church can make. The Church does not exist to duplicate what the parents seek to do but to complement their function.
Is there not a place for parents to have a more active involvement in the life of the Church's education programme? My answer to that question is a resounding YES! In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is the parents of the current "crop" of children who should be more involved in the Church's ministry to children than any others who share in that ministry.
CONCLUSION
Here are some questions we need to ask ourselves as we review our ministry to children.
1."Have we, as a Church, inadvertently assumedthe responsibility of the parents to teach their own children?"
2. "Do we need to find a way to more positively encourage the parents so that the principle of Christian Education being home-made is more effectively implemented in our Church Family?"
3. "Have we adequately consulted with parents to determine their needs for family education?"
4. "Are there ways that parents should be encouraged to "own" and to participate in the operation of our ministry to their children?"
It seems to me that where there is the need to make heart-wrenching appeals for helpers in our Churches (and the usually limited response that such an appeal gains), there is a deficiency in our understanding of how important our children are to the Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus. The Good Shepherd still says to us as He said to Peter so long ago, "Feed my sheep...feed my lambs".
