April 20, 2006
Children With Parents Welcome
Our Sunday school program for children and youth has been reconfigured and the new system requires parents (or an adult) to attend Sunday school with the children. Children who try to come to the class without an adult are sent to the worship service in the auditorium. Needless to say, attendance has dropped dramatically. Admittedly there are some positive aspects to having parents actively involved in the children’s class; however I’m not convinced that they outweigh the negatives. Consider the obstacles for single parent, grandparents, and those with two or three children. And then consider the child whose parents don’t go to church at all. Matthew 19:13-14 says, “Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail,
This error needs to be viewed at the same time with the problem you discussed on April 18, 2006 under the title, "Invisible Elders." First, the Bible does give elders leadership rights, but that leadership is limited. All claimed rights to leadership in the church are limited by the Head of the church. For Jesus is the Head of the church by His being the head of each relationship He has with each individual of the church. When that individual's life is abiding within all parameters specifically laid out by the Word of God, then that individual has a freedom in the Lord unaffected by any extra-scriptural, authoritarian claim made by elders. Elders must also obey the scriptures and Paul makes it clear that in matters of conscience we are to keep our beliefs between ourselves and God. That applies to elders as well. Paul tells us that some may observe one day while others observe another; that applies to elders as well.
The elders authority extends no further than the Scriptures' clarity. What the Scripture is clear about is that the feeding of the sheep is the point of our gatherings. We are together to feed one another the fruit grown in us by the Spirit. The Scripture is also clear about man having no place to limit the Spirit's motion, only man's commotion. So, does limiting a child's presence at the feeding trough of Sunday school without a parent limit the Spirit's motion or the child's commotion. Some children need to leave, I experienced that in my classes. But where the child is not being a commotion, then the milstones may better be the device for the one who wishes to send the child away from the feeding trough in preference to the selfish ambition of teaching a program rather than a child!
Post a Comment