» Friday, 7 September A.D. 2007
a child's place
A recent leadership packet for Fellowship Groups (small groups) we received from church had this to say about the place of children among us. I heartily agree with everything it has to say. Emphasis added by me to get the point across better. *grin*
It is clear from the Scriptures that when God called a people to be his own, children were considered to be vital members of that community. The children were included in the community's celebrations and its sadness. When God delivered his people from the hands of the Egyptians, the children experienced that deliverance with their parents and were included in the conversations about God's mighty works. When the Israelites wandered through the desert and entered into the Promised Land, their children were with them and entered with them. They were witnesses to God's power and awesome deeds on every occasion.
We have developed the strange habit of regularly sequestering the children from the adults within the community of God's people. We even get to church and parents go in one direction while their children go in another. Even worse, in our small group communities, where we get to hear stories of how God has changed and is changing people's lives, children are not present to hear them. These practices are not only out of step with the history of God's people, they are also detrimental to the spiritual lives of the Christian community's children.
If our children are to avoid becoming entrapped in a religion of “form” but without the power or from dropping out of Christianity altogether, then certainly it is very important that they experience the power of God up close and see it with their own eyes. When children have the opportunity to hear a wide variety of people confessing their sin and weaknesses, speaking of how God is working in their lives, and talking about how they are sharing the gospel with coworkers and friends, there is far less chance that they will grow up saying, “There is no God.” Being involved in a Fellowship Group provides them with the opportunity to see vital Christianity at work.
Scattered throughout the Scriptures are examples of children who had a significant place among God's people and who made significant contributions to the life of God's people. Moses, Samuel, and Jeremiah are examples of those who had encounters and experiences with God at a very young age. Our children are also capable of encountering and knowing God. The same Spirit that resides within adult Christians resides within the children of God's people. Therefore, we should expect that Christ will minister through them. They may not have the same sophistication of expression that an adult would have, but they can still make just as profound an impact if we do not let our pride get in the way.
The church needs a renewed perspective on its children. Too often they are viewed as being an inconvenience and a hindrance to spiritual experience. We remove them from the rest of us so that we can have our quiet and reflective times with other adults in God's presence. These attitudes and actions are detrimental to the children in the community, the adults of the community (both parents and non-parents), and to the future of the church. They are also disobedient to God. What we need is to be renewed with Christ's vision of children: “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” Apparently, having children with us as we worship, learning and sharing, was Jesus' idea of what genuine spiritual experience was all about.
posted by Nate @ 2:57PM