When my kids were born I desperately wanted them to grasp the gospel and know and love the Lord. I wanted them to experience His love through his Word, so that it became ‘life’ of for them. When I finished Bible College it seemed logical to extend what I was trying to do at home, with what I was going to be doing in full time Christian ministry. So I took on a role as a full-time children's Minister.
One of the things I really enjoyed was being able to provide a Bible teaching program that had depth and fun both for my very own children and the children at my church. When I moved on from that role I had this sense of grief that I wouldn't be able to provide the same kind of environment for my children at the next church as I’d be in a different role working for another organisation. However as a bit of panic crept up on me I was soon comforted and challenged by the Bible’s strong emphasis on the role of parents to raise their children in the knowledge of the Lord. In God's eyes, it is parents who make the best children's ministers!
It is commonplace and reasonable for parents to look to others to nurture and train their children in specific skills that we don't have such as violin lessons, ballet or sports. But the Bible thinks that is parents’ job to teach kids the Bible and be a model of Christian living to them. Sunday school, kid’s church and school Scripture therefore are merely supplements to the core work which must be done in the home.
Once I again realised this important responsibility for my children I got quite excited. It was up to me to make learning about Jesus fun and important for my kids, not someone else. We could look at whatever parts of the Bible we wanted, we weren’t restricted by curriculum. We could follow their own questions and reflect on different stories of the Bible that were relevant. Or we could just focus on a lesser-known parts of the Bible which rarely get much attention in Sunday school, such as poetry of the Psalms or the wisdom of Ecclesiastes.
Now that my children are getting older and can read for themselves, sometimes we will read large chunks of the Bible chapter by chapter each night. Other times they will read the full text of familiar stories for themselves. We’re gradually moving on from the children's Bibles, that were greatly helpful in the first seven years. Still the kids are quite keen to hear the full story of Noah or Jonah or Jesus’ miracles. So much of the Old Testament is story and this makes it easy to work through. Just asking questions and reflecting on why characters behave the way they do, how you might be feeling if you were one of the characters and what God is doing often makes the discussion pretty interesting. The other bonus bi-product of reading through the Bible with my kids is that sometimes they will help me develop material for my live shows. They’ll come up with a new antic for Anton or think of a funny way of interpreting a Biblical scene.
Don't get me wrong church ministries such as Sunday school are still important but let’s face it; they are only one hour or so in a child’s whole week. Parents see much more of their children and have incidental time and moments as well as any structured time they put in, where they can be teaching children about the Lord. One by-product of recognising this difference in opportunity and responsibility between the local kid’s ministry and your own home is you start to have lower expectations of the children's ministry at your church. I don't expect it to fulfill a great deal of my child's spiritual upbringing. I don't expect it to be some amazing experience every week for them. Especially in the primary years, I think the greatest spiritual input must come from the home. In later years this will still occur but I expect so in less intrusive and less formal ways.
Of course at the same time as getting excited, I also felt daunted. More important than what I say is what I do. If I prove to be inconsistent or a hypocrite then I undermine my children's upbringing in the Lord. Kids will see through a life of words and contrary actions. Sometimes we worry about the quality of our local kid’s ministry. Is it fun enough? Why do the older kids have to be with the little kids? Can’t they get some better leaders? Why is the craft so lame? Is what they are teaching intelligible to 6 year olds? We sometimes find it hard dragging our kids to a program they don’t enjoy. But more important surely, is the life of the parent and how God’s word is seen and heard in the home. Our words and our actions matter big time and will have more impact on our kids than the local church Sunday school. Whatever we do, we must not be crap.
PS: I have lovely servants at my church who work very hard and with generous hearts to teach our kids the Bible. Thank you!
For more information on Stephen's live shows for kids and families go to www.antonsantics.com
