Articles
Why We Don't Have "Kid's Church"
There are many people who will come to the Lord’s church with many different experiences and backgrounds, some of that from previous religious institutions. Sometimes, the cultural differences will be easily understood as a matter of observing the clear message of scripture, while others may be simply a difference in culture. There is, sometimes, a kind of a blend of the two that isn’t always as clear. There can be a common understanding in many churches that seek to follow Jesus’ authority that is an application of scriptural principles in a more modern context. It can be worthwhile to reflect on those traditions and explain them.
Many modern churches observe a tradition setting the children apart from the worship service so that the adults can engage and appreciate the music, and hear the message uninterrupted by children who, ostensibly, cannot understand anyway. Why wouldn’t that be a fitting decision at Wildercroft church of Christ today?
God commanded His people to teach His word to children. God’s word was never meant to only be heard by, or learned by, adults. When God told the people when to hear the Law read in full every seven years, He commanded that they gather “all Israel” and that included “the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town” and the purpose was so that “they may hear and learn and fear YHWH your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 31:10-13) This is in addition to all of the commands that God gave to the people to teach their children His laws in person. (Deuteronomy 4:9-10; 6:6-7; 11:18-19)
What we teach our children will impact their future. There is a very simply way to understand this concept seen in the Proverb, “Train up a child in the way he should go / Even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) While this is not a direct promise, but a general truth, the opposite can be understood just as easily. If we do not train our children when they are young, they are that much more likely to depart from a godly way of living. We have so many many good examples of faithful people who learned God’s ways when they were young, it seems obvious that we should try to infest in that same future. (II Timothy 3:14-17)
We have a dangerous enemy who will devour the ignorant. If you knew for a fact that there was a dangerous person why was actively seeking to kidnap and kill your children, what precautions would you take? Would you teach them how to be safe? Would you teach them how to avoid danger? How young would be too young to start giving them the tools they would need to survive an encounter with this malevolent entity? We have such an enemy, and he is characterized as a “roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” (I Peter 5:8) Those who are fooled by His wiles are “held captive by him to do his will.” (II Timothy 2:26)
The souls that are entrusted to our care are too precious, and the danger is too great, to fail to use every resource at our disposal to provide their protection.
