Philosophy of Children's Ministry Blog - Part 4

[blossom]

I think the dvd is saying that they are not scriptual as in there is no record of youth groups or Sunday School in the bible. Of course content and purpose is the key, not to be entertainment but training in the Lord. The other issue covered is that it separates children from parents and gave verses in the bible where children and parents are together in the things of the Lord not in separated classes. This concept it (the dvd) states has grown from the evolutionists. The other main point about all of this is that by supplying these activities Sunday school/ youth group we are providing an out for parents. It is the parents responsibility to train their children in the Lord and yet many think it's covered because they go to youth or Sunday school. This is not right!

I am not questioning those who do the right thing but very the existance of it in the first place. I love my Sunday school kids and we do train in the word of God. We are also looking into what John said about training the kids in service rather than keeping them in childhood so to speak. I don't agree with Children's church, I never have. My kids are beside me, sitting quietly in the main service. I wandering about the benefits and validity of youth groups in particular and possibly Sunday school as well.

I know this is a personal topic and I haven't found anywhere in the bible where it says don't but I don't see anywhere where it says to. I guess it's in the category of liberty. I do think it's worth really thinking about. I think a lot of these programs run out of tradition and habit and not careful thought. Given the purpose of these programs I don't think they should be done lightly or out of habit.

[John81]

I think the dvd is saying that they are not scriptual as in there is no record of youth groups or Sunday School in the bible. Of course content and purpose is the key, not to be entertainment but training in the Lord. The other issue covered is that it separates children from parents and gave verses in the bible where children and parents are together in the things of the Lord not in separated classes. This concept it (the dvd) states has grown from the evolutionists. The other main point about all of this is that by supplying these activities Sunday school/ youth group we are providing an out for parents. It is the parents responsibility to train their children in the Lord and yet many think it's covered because they go to youth or Sunday school. This is not right!

I am not questioning those who do the right thing but very the existance of it in the first place. I love my Sunday school kids and we do train in the word of God. We are also looking into what John said about training the kids in service rather than keeping them in childhood so to speak. I don't agree with Children's church, I never have. My kids are beside me, sitting quietly in the main service. I wandering about the benefits and validity of youth groups in particular and possibly Sunday school as well.

I know this is a personal topic and I haven't found anywhere in the bible where it says don't but I don't see anywhere where it says to. I guess it's in the category of liberty. I do think it's worth really thinking about. I think a lot of these programs run out of tradition and habit and not careful thought. Given the purpose of these programs I don't think they should be done lightly or out of habit.

Amen! Too much of what is done is out of habit and tradition. As our pastor often points out, if someone asks why something is done a certain way in church and the answer is "that's how we've always done it", then it's time to examine it and see if it's actually right and best.

One of the biggest problems with many churches and their programs is how they divide families. In Scripture we see the families together in worship, and during preaching and teaching. Unfortunately, just as the secular culture works hard to divide families, we see this in churches too, though most likely don't realize what they are doing is having this effect. Children are separated from parents, siblings are separated because of their age.

I've noticed in several churches we've visited that in many cases if there are some children in the sanctuary during worship the children are gathered together in one section of pews while their families are sitting elsewhere in the sanctuary. This isn't a good practice.

If Sunday school was more flexible and was actually centered upon bringing children to Christ and then building them up in Christ, there could be a place for such.

If youth groups were less about entertainment, separation from "non-youth", and focused upon bringing the lost youth to Christ, building up those in Christ and helping them to learn to be mature, responsible Christian young people becoming adults...

It's a shame that youth groups are separated from those who could really help them most, the older men and women in the church who are mature in the faith; the very ones our youth should be learning from. It's all too common for youth groups to be run by someone young, and often not very mature in the faith themselves, and often the young youth leader is one who thinks they must act and look like the youth in order to reach them.

We need to incorporate the biblical mandates and teachings for the older, mature Christians to help teach, instruct and train the younger.

In many ways youth groups follow the worldly model of separating youth from their parents, from older, mature Christians, from the need to be maturing themselves in Christ and towards adulthood.

It would be good to examine these things, which are all actually very new to the church, and using Scripture see how these programs can be based upon Scripture, revamped, or if necessary scrapped and something new or different established which follows Scripture.