It’s a vital query to ask. The danger is that we sometimes think that we’d like to entertain the youngsters, in order that we will properly help the adults go deeper with God but the author of Proverbs explains, “Start children off on the best way they need to go, and even once they are old they’ll not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6, NIV).
My hope is that the majority churches want their children to change into resilient disciples who decide to follow Jesus for themselves.
And with this in mind, what’s our hope for our youngsters in five years’ time and 10 years’ time and 25 years’ time? Understanding the vision we’ve got is admittedly necessary since it frames how we do what we do.
In my early 20s, I used to be very involved in kid’s work in my local church. I assumed I knew exactly what needed to be done to assist children thrive of their faith. Each Sunday morning, I’d have as much fun as possible with the youngsters while weaving within the things of God to pass on as much in regards to the Christian faith as I could in that hour long session each week.
The kids would go home beaming and week by week they’d be grasping the stories from the Gospels. Numbers were up and everybody was pleased that the kids’s work was flourishing.
However, since having children of my very own, my understanding of the role of the local church has been dramatically modified. The sobering statistic is that only half of youngsters who grow up in Christian families will still have a faith by the age of 18.
Today, I’m still involved in local church kid’s work but my approach has profoundly shifted. I’ve come to grasp how children are being shaped and formed throughout the week, in the varsity playground and by the screens they’re watching. When I used to be younger, my approach was all about an hour-long club on a Sunday morning. That hour-long Sunday school club could be very powerful but there’s more we will do.
Taking a step back, a median five 12 months old might spend 77 hours every week sleeping, and a piece of time in school and at other clubs. That hour every week at church, presuming they arrive every week, is minuscule compared. But what’s interesting is that a five 12 months old is prone to spend a whopping 30 hours every week at home with their parents or carers. Therefore they’re the most important influence on the kid’s life.
And so I actually have stopped pondering it’s all about that one hour on a Sunday. If we are attempting to assist a baby grasp what the Christian life is all about in an hour in a church hall, it’s near not possible. The Christian faith isn’t nearly truths we learn in a classroom setting but about how we live life well, following Jesus.
One of probably the most helpful sections of Scripture is a few verses that turn up thrice in Deuteronomy.
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols in your hands and bind them in your foreheads. Teach them to your kids, talking about them if you sit at home and if you walk along the road, if you lie down and if you rise up” (Deut 11:18-19).
Moses commanded the people of Israel to pass on the truths of God. But this commission is not specific to the priests, the professionals and the keen volunteers but to everyone; and it happens not only at special meetings but within the on a regular basis of life.
Over the previous couple of years, in my work with the Kitchen Table Project, we’ve got been pondering through how we empower and encourage parents and carers to share in regards to the Christian faith in those 30 hours every week.
We have come to grasp that we’d like to, partly, re-think how we approach kid’s work as local churches. The danger is that we give off the notion that the local church will disciple our children for us. Instead we’d like to search for a way more holistic approach which is in regards to the clubs we run but in addition in regards to the way we empower parents and carers for the remaining of the week, and ultimately how the entire church gets to be involved.
Lots of this pondering forms the idea of our recent ‘Children’s Faith: A Whole Church Approach to Family Ministry’ resource. We are currently journeying with 80 churches as a part of an internet learning community and exploring two elements of church life: firstly the programme and the things we do; and secondly, the culture and the best way we do things.
So in case your vision for the kids connected to your church is that they change into resilient disciples, then possibly we’d like to take stock of how we’re approaching kid’s work and think through what we’d must adapt.
Andy Frost is the director of Share Jesus International and works alongside Care for the Family on the Kitchen Table Project, helping parents and carers nurture faith in the house. He is the presenter of the brand new resource, ‘Children’s Faith: A Whole Church Approach to Family Ministry’ which could be obtained from https://kitchentable.org.uk/church/wholechurchapproach/
