Keeping Our Children In Church

A friend of mine wrote on her blog - Compartmentalizing Religion -  about keeping our children in church and training and teaching them at a very young age to be “on fire” for God. I asked her if I could re-post most of her thoughts here.  I will save my comments for another post.  Here’s what she had to say:

The Last Unreached People Group
A lot of people talk about "unreached people groups" - by which they mean groups of people (usually nations or ethnicities) to whom Jesus is a foreign concept, the Bible is unknown and unavailable in their language, and where there are no churches.

We send missionaries there to learn the language, bring valuable practical skills such as agricultural training or computer training, or basic sanitation practices, food programs, schools for the children who are currently being forced to work to support their family.

None of these things are bad.  In fact, they are laudable, and beautiful expressions of who Jesus is -

JEHOVAH-ROHI

Psalm 23:1

The Lord my shepherd

JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH

Ezekiel 48:35

The Lord who is present

JEHOVAH-RAPHA

Exodus 15:26

The Lord our healer

JEHOVAH-JIREH

Genesis 22:13-14

The Lord will provide

JEHOVAH-SHALOM

Judges 6:24

The Lord is peace

EL ROI

Genesis 16:13

The strong one who sees

Through their acts, they gain the right to speak into their new friend's lives, telling them about the reasons for their life choices...

JEHOVAH—YAHWEH

Genesis 2:4

God's divine salvation

JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU

Jeremiah 23:6

The Lord our righteousness

JEHOVAH-MACCADDESHEM

Exodus 31:1

The Lord thy sanctified

 

 

But there is one people group that is consistently of no concern to most churches and leaders (with the hugely notable exception of David Walters, who proclaims the obvious but ignored truth that children don't have "a jr. Holy Spirit".. The children of the western world are coddled, babysat, fed pablum, and told to come back to church when they are 18 and can do great things for God. Why can't they be on fire for God before then?  Why can they not share their faith, lead in worship, pray for the sick, be a real part of the church body instead of something we hide away in musty back rooms while adults get down to the "adult business" of having church? Why?  

 

When we see people like Zach Taylor writing books as a teenager, speaking about Generation Change, and speaking out against slavery, which is happening more now than ever before in human history? Why?  When Alex and Brett Harris are writing books challenging "low expectations" among the youth themselves and encouraging them to "Do Hard Things?" Why?  When beautiful siblings, the Malleys, write books full of encouragement to their peers to love their brothers and sisters and see it as not only part of their spiritual worship, but part of the spiritual disciplines we are called to as brothers and sisters in Christ? 

 

I'll tell you why, but you may not want to hear it. Truth is, we hate children.  That sounds extreme, doesn't it? Even if children do want to be involved in the Body, we don't know how to involve them because we are so very heavily invested in the surrounding culture that sees children as barely human until they reach 18, 21, 25, 30 - the bar gets higher and higher for adulthood and responsibility, and although it may be out of a sense of misplaced love that mutilates and arrests development, it's also part of a culture that thinks killing babies is all right. 

 

And churches are not different from the rest of the world. If you want to argue with me, go look at the stats first.   Roman Catholics are a tiny bit less likely to get an abortion, but all other denominations have *no difference* in abortion rates from those who claim no religious affiliation. What kind of schizophrenia would it require for us, as churches to embrace children from the earliest ages, holding them in our arms during prayer time, helping them sing along when they are too young to read the words for themselves, teaching them to memorize God's Word from  the time they say their first words...  

 

Okay, I'll admit.  I have an axe to grind.  Or is it seven arrows to sharpen for flight, to be like the sword of the Spirit?  

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

I want my children to learn discernment.  I want them to learn to hear God's voice.  I am teaching them at home to the best of my abilities, but the church as a whole is not helping.

In fact, it is a huge hindrance to what I'm trying to do with my children. I want to teach them to sacrifice, the church wants to put on parties.  I want them to learn to pray, the church brings candies and dangles them in front of the children. Parties are not bad, and I'm not even that strict about sweets.  But can children learn to enjoy the presence of God when they are constantly distracted?

  

We have the same Holy Spirit.  We need to share Him with our children, too...  And the work of the Spirit in our lives as well as theirs begins with holiness and passion for His will.

Clean hands, a pure heart.

Some interesting thoughts, no?  I thought so.  But like I said, I’ll save my thoughts for another day.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,