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From the Manse April 2005
Dear friends
Well, I’m glad to see any church making an effort to reach children in our day. I’m not going to criticise the methods that other churches choose to use. I believe God will honour every Christian who gives himself or herself sacrificially to gospel work. But we’ve chosen to go down a different route from most churches. First, we’ve settled it in our minds that we want our children with us in the services. We think it’s important that from the earliest age, children should be learning to sit still and quiet through a sermon. They should be aware that something special, important, serious, is going on. And from the start they should be encouraged to listen. I’m so encouraged when I see young children paying attention and even taking notes. They may not catch everything, but when I look at their notes, I’m often amazed to see how much they have understood. Of course, we encourage parents to take very young children out if they become noisy and disruptive. But we don’t provide toys and organise games for them when they’ve been taken out. If we did that, they’d see it as a reward for being noisy! They’d have an incentive to do the same the following week. If you have to take your child out, make him - or her - sit still in the back room. And bring him back in as soon as he’s calmed down. Second, we think that if we’re only going to hold one meeting a week especially for children, the best day to do it is a Sunday. That way, the children who come learn that Sunday is special. We’re reinforcing the truth that we set aside that day for God - to learn about him, and worship him. If we had the resources to run another meeting on a week-night, that would be grand. But it could never be a substitute for a Lord’s Day meeting. Third, we’re agreed that those Sunday meetings we hold for children should be marked by the same reverence and seriousness as our main services. They may be less formal - we want the children to enjoy them - but they must never become frivolous or silly. We want children to realise that when they sing, they’re singing to an awesome God, their Creator and Lord. When they listen to the Bible read, they’re listening to the words of the King. When the teachers explain the gospel, they’re setting out the most important message in the world. Sunday-school classes should equip children to benefit more and more from the regular Lord’s Day services. Fourth, we make it our goal to reach children from outside the church as well as our own children through the Sunday-school. Some ‘reformed’ Christians have questioned whether it’s right to do that. They’ve argued that we should aim all our outreach at adults. If parents are converted, they say, those parents will bring their children with them and whole families will be saved. Well, sure, let’s take the gospel to parents and whole families. But why can’t we do that and still reach out to children? We try to reach elderly folk in nursing-homes. We hold meetings just for women. We tell the gospel to teenagers on the streets. So why not children? If children are willing to come and listen to a serious message, presented in a serious way, let’s give God thanks that he’s stirred them up to do that, and seize the opportunity he’s given. Fifth, we believe that children - even young children - can be genuinely converted. And we aim for their conversion. We’re not just trying to hold on to them in the hope that as teenagers or adults they may come to faith. We’re not just trying to give them a foundation of Bible-knowledge so that later in life they may remember, and be saved. We’re urging them to repent and believe now. The gospel we preach to them is exactly the same as the gospel we preach to grown-ups. And we expect them to be converted in exactly the same way as grown-ups are converted. They must become aware of the greatness and holiness of God. They must feel the seriousness of their sins. They must realise that Jesus Christ is their only hope. They must cling to him and find peace in him. They must begin to live lives of faithful obedience and service to their Saviour. No doubt their emotions and experiences will reflect the fact that they’re children not adults. And they may express their understanding in childish words. But their conversion will have the same hallmarks as that of anyone else whom God saves. It’s a thrilling thing when God does save young children. Wouldn’t it be awesome if God took hold of some youngsters from the local estates and saved them? They’d go back to their homes as new creatures, with new interests, new desires, new attitudes. Their parents would see them praying. They’d notice that they had stopped watching some TV programmes which they’d enjoyed in the past. They’d be forced to see that their children’s behaviour towards them was transformed. And in the schools, these children would stand out a mile from the other youngsters. It would be an extraordinary testimony to the supernatural power of God through the gospel. So those are our big convictions. Those are the things which shape the whole work of the Sunday-school. But then we still have to settle lots of practical issues. The best time for Sunday-school, the best location, arrangements for transport, opportunities for training. Do we need a ‘child protection policy’? How we should go about recruiting children? Some of these questions are still being considered. But at least we’ve decided on one thing. At our last members’ meeting, Geoff suggested that we should carry on holding the Sunday-school at the present time but that we should hold it at the Gorsey Bank Pavilion. What that means is that after the morning service, the teachers will need to get themselves down to the Pavilion with the children. Hopefully, between them, the teachers can take most of the children in their cars. If necessary, some of the parents may have to help. At the meeting, the members approved that suggestion for a trial period of six months. Some weren’t convinced. There were a few ‘no’ votes and some abstentions. I’m glad everyone felt free to express their opinion. But I’m even more glad that there was no disunity. At the end of the meeting we could all say that we’d do our best to make it work. I hope the change will be good in lots of ways. Firstly, for those of us who aren’t directly involved in Sunday-school. Once the children have been taken down to the Pavilion, that will leave us free to stay at the St John hall and chat as long as we want. We won’t need to hurry out of the hall to make room for Sunday-school classes. We’ll have time to get to know visitors especially instead of edging them towards the door when Sunday-school starts. We’ll be able to say each week, ‘Don’t rush off after the service: do stay and have a cup of coffee with us’. Let’s take advantage of that extra time to chat, to talk about the preaching we’ve heard, perhaps to pray together for the Sunday-school as it meets. Secondly, for the Sunday-school teachers. Instead of having to bustle round trying to put out tables and chairs and set up equipment while people are milling round, and children are coming in, the teachers will arrive at the Pavilion and find everything already set up for them. That should make their life easier. But someone’s going to have to go down to the Pavilion and set things up on Saturday evening, or first thing on Sunday morning. Any volunteers? Thirdly, for our children. I think it will be good for them to be somewhere where they can work off energy before Sunday-school begins. Children who have been sitting still for an hour and a half need to let off steam. We don’t blame them if they turn the St John HQ into an Olympic running-track cum wrestling ring for the twenty minutes between the morning service and Sunday-school. But it’s hardly the ideal place! Down at the Pavilion, by contrast, they’ve got the whole of Gorsey Bank Park. Let them run round, give them a glass of squash to help them cool down, and then they can settle for Sunday-school. And fourthly - perhaps most important of all - for the children of the area. In the summer, there could be lots of children playing in the park around the Pavilion. Certainly, as Christine reminded us at the meeting, there are lots of children living within three minutes walk of that building. We can - we must - try to draw them in. How much do we care about the salvation of the children who are growing up in the church? How much do we care about the salvation of the children from the area around? If we don’t really care, then no organisational change will make a difference. But if we do care, let’s commit ourselves afresh to this work. If the Sunday-school is to prosper, it will be because the whole church is praying, working, longing to see children converted. God bless you all, Stephen |
Over
the past few months we’ve been discussing the future of the
Sunday-school. Very few churches seem to run a Sunday-school these days
- or if they do, it’s usually aimed just at children from church
families, and it’s held at the same time as the morning service. During
the sermon, the children are taken out and have their own programme of
songs, teaching, crafts and other activities. If churches do run a
meeting for other local children, it tends to be on a week-night, and
often consists of games of different sorts, followed by a short gospel
message or ‘epilogue’.