I wonder what church would look like if we took seriously the biblical instructions to “talk about [the Scriptures] when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:7)? I wonder what church would look like if we believed that parents are truly the primary shapers of their children’s faith and that the church is to supplement what the parents are doing to shape their children’s faith? I wonder what church would look like if we truly believed that the children in the church belong to all of us corporately, as part of God’s family?
Diane Smith
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Research (George Barna’s “Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions,” Search Institute) indicates what children need in order to grow into emotionally and spiritually healthy persons. We know primary influencers in children’s faith are the faith of the father, faith of the mother, regular involvement in church’s teaching ministry and opportunities to serve others.
I wonder if we would close children’s Bible learning groups (Sunday school classes) because we don’t have enough every-Sunday leaders with our children to provide truly effective learning environments? Are we as a family of God committed to more than “taking care of the children while the adults ‘do their thing’ ”? Children’s faith forms through consistent relationships.
I wonder if we would continue to have separate Bible groups/classes for adults and children on Sunday morning or might our parents and children participate in the same Bible study group/class? I know that young parents like learning environments and situations that allow for discussions and small group activities.
I wonder if we would establish prayer partners for children and their parents? Might we ask a mature adult class to pray for our first and second graders and their parents on Tuesdays? Another class to pray for our fifth and sixth graders and their parents on Thursdays?
I wonder if families might have adopted grandparents, especially for families who live away from nuclear families?
I wonder how we might involve children as active participants in worship, knowing that so many aspects of children’s lives are “caught rather than taught,” and that worship is modeled?
Understanding is about knowledge; knowledge is about “me”. Worship is about mystery; mystery is about God. Does an emphasis on “me” have a place in corporate worship (the family of God at worship)? Or is the emphasis in corporate worship always on “we” — we worship God; we bring our offerings before God; we pray; we lay our lives before God.
Horace Bushnell once wrote, “If worship has nothing to do with children, it most likely has nothing to do with adults.”
I wonder what church would look like if we intentionally planned for generations to learn from one another? What if we planned multi-generational Bible study sessions for the Sundays of Advent? What if we planned multi-generational Bible study sessions for the summer months? What “unwritten curriculum” or teaching happens when a second-grader sees a 72-year-old person playing the part of Elizabeth in a biblical drama?
I wonder what church would look like ….
Diane Smith is children’s ministry strategist for the Virginia Baptist Mission Board’s emerging leaders team.