CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

Children

A Kingdom Perspective on Baptism

by

By Robert Palmer. It is the kingdom of God exhibited both within and without the church that does so much to bring the transforming message of God’s covenant to fulfillment. This is why, if covenantal baptism means anything, it means the bringing of the church’s children under the rule of King Jesus. Scripture teaches these children are set apart for kingdom purposes. It’s a message meant to impact not only their spiritual alienation from God but also the totality of their lives.

It all begins with their baptism, because in administering this sacrament covenant children are being identified visibly as belonging to people of God. As such they are becoming part of “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession.” Unlike other communities on earth, members of this gathering have been called of God to “proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9). It is indeed a high and holy calling.

But what happens when this called out community fails to turn their focus away from earthly ambitions and toward their ministry as God’s royal priesthood? What happens is this: Kingdom people bring discredit to their King and disgrace to themselves.

That is precisely what is pictured in Jeremiah 22. God’s prophet describes a sad situation. Jerusalem is in ruins. There is chaos everywhere. Inevitably it leads to people from many nations, passing by the city of Jerusalem, asking one another, ‘Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?’ It’s a sad spectacle, and we’re told why it happened. The answer comes in the form of a strong accusation from the prophet. It is “because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God and worshipped other gods and served them” (Jer. 22:8, 9).

The reason for this sorry scene had nothing to do with such important matters as the offering of appropriate sacrifices. It had nothing to do with the fact that the people of God had been unfaithful in carrying out their many religious observances. What the prophet DOES describe is kingdom responsibilities that had not been carried out! His message is blunt. “Thus saith the Lord: Do justices, and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place” (Jer. 22:3).

The people obviously were not doing these things, and God was angry. Later in the chapter, God’s displeasure is sternly defined: “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages” (Jer. 22:13).

It is a message God’s people don’t expect to hear. It is also something they do not want to hear. God is saying there is a critical contradiction in their lives. The professions they make with their lips are not being matched by the actions of their lives. And that must change! They are a people who have been rescued by God in order to lift up ” . . . good works which God prepared beforehand that (they) should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). To this very day, this whole issue of “good works” or “kingdom works” is a fundamental principle touching every aspect of the believer’s life, including what is testified to in the sacrament of baptism.

When the church’s children receive the sacramental sign and seal of identification with God’s earthly people, the covenant community is expressing both a longing and a commitment. First, they are saying they eagerly anticipate the day when this covenant child testifies to having experienced the blessing of forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Second, they are anticipating that they will be called upon to do to whatever they can to prepare this child to actively participate in carrying out God’s Kingdom work.

In other words, it’s a longing and a commitment relating to both aspects of the great commandment. First, Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And then He added this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37, 39).

In the sacrament of baptism, God’s people are promising to make themselves available to do whatever needs to be done in order to see this child live out the totality of kingdom concerns. They are expressing a commitment to see the child trained to do battle with the power structures of this world that proclaim false gospels and false messiahs. They are the very structures that would encourage God’s creatures to live lives with little meaning, little hope, and little value.

Members of the church community are testifying that they will do everything in their power to equip this newly baptized member of the community to “show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.” They will help prepare this child to live as God’s “salt and light” before such a world. They will encourage this child to emulate the merciful model of their Savior. “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36).

From the youngest to the oldest, God’s people are promising to give themselves to a lifestyle characterized by self-emptying. Wherever they see people crying out for justice, for mercy, and for demonstrations of incarnational love, they will respond. And they will do this because they recognize this is what kingdom compassion is all about!

It may be costly to serve the least and the lost, but a kingdom lifestyle calls for nothing less. “The greatest among you,” said Jesus, must “become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves” (Luke 22: 26).

All of this has a direct bearing on covenantal baptism. Because it does, the parents of the child about to be baptized will take some family inventory. They will be asking questions such as: “What effect do kingdom mandates make on relationships between persons in our family? What differences do these mandates make in the way we use our time together as a family?”

A kingdom lifestyle most assuredly will demonstrate a disciplined use of time. Why? Because it is not possible to lead chaotic, unstructured, and undisciplined lives and still achieve kingdom goals. For good reasons, Scripture commands, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:15, 16).

There is the question of how these parents and how this family will use their time. However, they also will be asking: “What difference will kingdom mandates make in the budgeting and spending of our family income? What difference will it make in discerning those family needs that are valid?” They are not easy questions to answer, but covenant families cannot afford to be cavalier or careless when it comes to money matters. There is too much at stake.

The way they spend their family income matters to the poor whose well being may hinge on the generosity of God’s covenant people. And it matters to the corporate body of God’s people whose kingdom objectives either will be thwarted or facilitated by the giving of God’s people. Without a commitment to Biblical stewardship covenant families will not be able to nurture that depth of spiritual maturity and responsibility within the church’s children that is necessary to carry out kingdom concerns.

The church’s children will learn how to handle money from watching adults within the covenant community. They cannot help but be impacted for good as they observe daily demonstrations of adults who “honor the Lord with (their) wealth and with the first fruits of all (their) produce” (Prov. 3:9). They cannot help but be impressed when they observe the stewardship principles of Jesus being lived out in the lives of those they look up to. “Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38).

And what about the exercise of kingdom stewardship in the way in which covenant families make use of their homes? When presenting their child for baptism, parents will want to ask: “What is it that we’re doing to carry out kingdom considerations with respect to this place where we live? To what use do we put our homes in ministering to others? Do we welcome strangers to the comfort of our homes?” A kingdom consciousness dictates that covenant families not hold back. It demands that they not withdraw themselves from the world.

So then, a kingdom mindset of serving others can be measured in so many practical ways. No matter how it is measured, it will always reflect that God’s called-out people model what it means to cultivate compassion. Always they will “open (their) mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.” And always, they will “judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and the needy” (Prov. 31:8, 9). Always they will be like the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31, who “opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy” (Prov. 31:20).

Ultimately they will do this because all of Scripture lifts up one consistent message: Kingdom living is so much more than words. It is even more than words addressed to God. It is more than people praying, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It is people who consistently practice what they profess. It is people who reflect kingdom values in the compassionate care they demonstrate.

And that is why when they present their covenant children for baptism, they will pause to ponder: To what extent will this child witness parents’ hearts that are broken by the things that break the heart of God?

Bottom line, it all comes down to this: It takes the Kingdom of God being exhibited both within and without the church to bring the transforming message of God’s covenant to fulfillment. It all comes down to this: If covenantal baptism means anything, it means the bringing of the church’s children under the rule of King Jesus.

Probe questions:

  1. Why is covenant baptism so extremely important in the life of the church community?
  2. What is really happening during the administration of the sacrament of baptism?
  3. The article explains how the people of God are involved in the sacrament. Explain their involvement.
  4. What is the role of the immediate family in the infant’s covenant baptism?
  5. The article refers to the family using its time, energies, and resources-how does that connect with baptism?
  6. As leaders and teachers, how do the people in your church view or understand infant baptism?

REACHING THE RISING GENERATION – SHOW THEM JESUS

by

By Sue Jakes. Jacob is only four years old, but his mother struggles to love him. His temperament is indifferent at best, and when he does not get his way, his tantrum is so embarrassing she is brought to tears. Even the people in her church do not like him. One Sunday the school teacher quit rather than deal with Jacob each week.

Lauren is bored with church and Sunday school. She has heard all the stories before in her Christian school. None of her best friends go to her church, so Sunday school is not only boring, but it also has no social appeal for her. Her parents will not let her stay at home and they fight about her attitude every Sunday morning.

Daniel has a learning disability. School is difficult enough for him, but now at 10 years of age, his parents have decided to go to church. He dreads the humiliation of a room full of kids every Sunday morning who know all the answers. No matter how hard he tries to understand this Jesus stuff, it makes no sense to him.

Our churches are filled with Jacobs, Laurens, and Daniels. The names may be different but these scenarios are all too common in the body of Christ today. How do we develop a children’s ministry program that will address these kinds of problems? What is the answer? More paid staff? More puppets, games and music? More programs and activities?In the end, all three of these children need to see Jesus. They need to see him in the teacher. They need to see him in the taught Word. They need to see him in the other students. They need to see him in the whole body of Christ. If we develop our children’s ministry philosophy and strategies around this simple truth…Show them Jesus…what we do in the church could radically change.

Teachers who model Christ and his covenant are a necessity. Most churches recruit teachers by placing yearly ads in the newsletter or bulletin that “beg” for anyone who will do it. A one year commitment seems to be the best we can expect from anyone these days, and many times this commitment is from a team of rotating teachers. Does this system show our children Jesus? In his name, Emmanuel, we have the covenant promise, “I will be with you.” We are trying to teach our children to believe this message while we model something entirely different. “We will be with you for a year when it is our turn to be there.” The last time I looked, the Sunday school teacher I had at four years old was still teaching four year-olds at my home church. That message speaks louder than any words I ever heard. ” I will be with you” is a message worth modeling.

This generation is crying out for mentors and leaders and friends who will understand that children are great blessings from the Lord. To love, teach, and befriend them is a life-long calling for the parents, grandparents, older siblings, and all other covenant family members. Mathew 18 shows us all a Jesus who is indignant when the disciples thought for a moment that he did not have time for the children. The tithing of our time should begin with the loving instruction of our children…as we rise up, as we sit down, as we walk along the way. (Deuteronomy 6)

At the foundation of any children’s ministry should be the prayer that God will turn the hearts of the Fathers toward the children. Pray for a ministry team who will be there, not for a year, but for a life. A congregation who desires to know, love, and serve their children is the bottom line need for any thriving children’s ministry.

What then do we teach? Mistake number two in many churches is that, after begging for “anyone” to do it, any curriculum will do. The children’s market is flooded with fun curriculum that anyone can use to plan a class on the way to church. Children are not only worth teaching, they are worth teaching well. Permeating the Sunday school mindset is the idea that volunteers should not have to put much time into this effort. Teaching the truth to the next generation deserves all the time it takes to do it well. We should not only train our children’s teachers in the Reformed faith, but also put curriculum in their hands, which is always reinforcing what our church believes. Does it matter with little children? This is the age where it matters most.

I just recently read a 3rd grade lesson on Cain and Abel. It appeared in a curriculum published by one of our nation’s largest Christian publishers. The aim of the lesson was “When you are corrected you should have a good attitude.” As reformed Christians we do not believe that the Cain and Abel story is about fostering a good attitude. Hebrews 11 tells us that Abel believed the promise and by faith, even though he is dead, he still speaks. From Genesis to Revelation, the scripture is about God’s promise to redeem his people. That redemption, the very promise that Abel believed by faith, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. When our children are in Sunday school, Bible club, Vacation Bible school, or any other ministry of our church, this must be the message…what God has done, is doing, and will do to redeem his people through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

It is disturbing how many times I have heard testimonies of late life conversions from people reared in churches where they never heard the gospel. It is even more disturbing when I hear a teenager tell me that they just cannot “be” a Christian because it is just too hard. The idea of belonging to a covenant family through God’s choosing and electing grace has never registered in their minds. Are our children hearing the true gospel? We must be training our teachers regularly to insure that they not only study and understand God’s Word, but also correctly communicate it.

The model and message of a child’s team of teachers needs to be constantly reinforced by the whole body of Christ. The congregation must consider the vow taken at covenant baptisms as seriously as the parents do. When that begins to happen every member of the congregation will be able to give testimony of their personal ministry to the covenant children in their local church. You do not have to teach Sunday school to know and serve the children in your church. However, if you do not know and serve them in some capacity, you need to search your heart before taking the baptismal vow again. Praying for the children and their families is a great place to begin the faithful keeping of this vow.

What kind of child are we trying to produce? What does a disciple of Christ look like? When Jesus was twelve years old, in the Jewish tradition he was taken to the temple. This happened at twelve, not because he had learned how to behave in synagogue, but because he was ready to participate in study, dialogue and worship. He had become a man. We are losing many of our covenant children between 12 and 20 because we are asking them to wait. The youth ministry mindset in many churches is that we will continue to teach them and if they are bored, we will entertain them to keep them coming. Twelve year olds want to serve. They will continue to learn, but they will learn best in the context of ministry. Our ministry needs to be showing, teaching and allowing children to serve at the youngest age possible.

One of the nation’s largest evangelical ministries published some interesting statistics a few years ago. After surveying the involvement of their membership it was found that new members need to “own” a ministry and have seven significant relationships in the body within six months of joining or they would eventually leave the church. If they did not leave they were on the peripheral edge of the membership and were very difficult to find and engage in ministry. To “own” a ministry meant to be involved in such a way that you could not miss a Sunday without being “missed”. You are needed at church. The significant relationships are not about good friends with whom you have many things in common. They are significant because they are your leaders and mentors who hold you accountable, or you are the leader or mentor holding them close.

Our children are no different. When they become young men and women, they need to own a ministry in our congregation. Helping with the nursery, children’s church, or preschool Sunday school, designing and putting up bulletin boards, singing in the choir, writing to missionaries – these are just a few of the service areas that ten to twenty-year olds can do quite well. In these kinds of ministries they also develop those significant relationships. Four-year olds in children’s church look up to them and adults on the missions committee lead them into a more active involvement as the assign special tasks to them. Our children, we must use them or lose them.

This vision for children and youth in our churches is hindered by one thing. We, the older generation, are choosing to spend our time and energy elsewhere. We do not have time to teach, mentor, or get to know the children in our own body. In the new millennium, time is considered the greatest commodity or treasure. To truly turn our hearts toward our children (Malachi 4:6, Luke 1:17), we must put our treasure, our time, into the next generation, “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

I find myself hoping that someone else in my congregation has time for Jacob, and Lauren, and Daniel. But as I pray for them, the Lord calls me to receive them in his name, and by doing so I have received him. Jacob needs someone to be with him every Sunday to keep him on task – a mentor, a friend. Lauren needs an older woman to take her as an assistant in Sunday school or children’s church – a mentor, a friend. Daniel needs a Christian family to include him and his family in their life as they learn what it means to follow Jesus – mentors, friends. This is true discipleship and it is the fulfillment of the Great Commission in the most precise and accurate way. “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) To show them Jesus is to be with them.

In a culture that is too busy to know, find and do what is eternal, Jesus has called us to go and makes disciples. It begins at birth, at baptism. The Christian Education Committee of the Presbyterian Church in America has a strategic plan to equip you and your church in making disciples. Our training and resource focus for the last four years has been to reach the millennial generation. It is a focus that we will not compromise until our Lord returns. Let us help your local church raise up a generation that will love and serve Christ – a generation who has seen Jesus.

Questions for discussion:

1. How much emphasis does our leadership place on the children’s’ ministry? Why do you say that?

2. Do we have a general plan for starting with the youngest in making disciples? What is it?

3. Because the attitude of the leadership is an example, how excited are our people regarding our church’s ministry to the younger generation?

4. Do we experience difficulty in recruiting teachers and helpers in our children and youth ministries? If so, why?

5. What specific things can we identify that our church does to demonstrate our love and care for the young people?

Praying the Psalms

by

“Whoever prays the Psalms earnestly and regularly will soon stop those other light and personal little devotional prayers and say: Ah, there is not the juice, the strength, the passion, the fire which I find in the Psalms.” Martin Luther[i]

By Archie Parrish. God blessed my wife and me with three children. From the moment of their births we talked to them. Daily we did everything we could to get them to repeat what we said. At first only Jean and I could understand the sounds they made. Day after day, we continued talking to them, and after a while they began echoing our words back to us. Single words grew into short sentences. Because we continued to talk to our children they learned to talk to us.

In a similar fashion God teaches His children the language of prayer. The Holy Spirit prays for us and helps us learn to pray. The Holy Spirit inspired the whole Bible; and He uses all Scripture to help us pray. But He especially uses the book of Psalms. As we pray the Psalms, the Holy Spirit helps us commune with the Father, conform to the Son, and combat the devil.

Only men and women set free from sin through faith in Christ can successfully fight spiritual warfare. As sons and daughters in a conscious vital relationship with our Father and with His family in a local church, we can properly serve as soldiers in Christ’s army and gain victory in battles with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Leaders in spiritual warfare need not be brilliant; they cannot be self-confident. They are to be humble servants, who are courageous because they are confident in the Lord. They lead by example and are people of prayer who multiply after their kind. Soldiers in spiritual warfare are humble followers of Jesus who maintain their morale by a steady diet of psalms and basic Christian truth, especially Scripture. They boldly engage the enemy. Spiritual warriors know their enemies and believe God is sufficient to defeat them. Spiritual warriors believe kingdom-focused prayer is their super-weapon.

The Calvinist reformers were led by a militant aristocracy and financed by wealthy bourgeoisie. They put up long and frequently successful battles. Yet the leadership and finance could not have won the day had the individual Calvinists not possessed, to quote Cromwell, “a conscience of what they were doing.” In many cases, they won their battles or retrieved those they had lost, not through generalship nor through greater economic power, but because of superior morale. In building up and maintaining this morale, the battle hymns of the Psalter played a conspicuous part.[ii]

The psalms owed their importance in this connection primarily to Calvin himself. Usually when thinking of all his influence on the resistance movements, we tend to stress his teachings, his organization, and his personality. Yet at the grass-roots level these perhaps did not have all of the impact which we usually attribute to them. The thing that really “grabbed” the common man, the ordinary Calvinistic soldier, was something much more mundane: his catechetical training[iii] and the congregational singing of the psalms.

David said, “I give myself to prayer” (Psalm 109:4). Literally the original Hebrew reads, “I prayer”, i.e. “I am prayer.” The Holy Spirit desires to help us become prayer. Here is how He is helping me. I begin every day with the book of Psalms. I divided the book into thirty almost equal portions and I spend about thirty minutes prayerfully reading aloud one portion. I use the English Standard Version because it is an accurate translation and it is easy to read.

This daily discipline has been so rewarding that I am now trying to learn all 150 Psalms by heart. It was not unusual for devout Jews in the time of Jesus and His Apostles to know by heart the “whole of David,” i.e., the entire book of Psalms. It is probable that our Lord Jesus had all the Psalms memorized. They certainly were the very fabric of His life. In His most painful moments, as He faced death on the cross, He instinctively cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46). These are David’s words recorded in Psalm 22:1.

Jesus’ last words from the cross were, “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). As soon as their children began to talk, devout Jewish mothers taught them to pray, “Into Your hand I commit my spirit” (Psalm 31:5). Each night before going to sleep the children prayed these words. To this childhood prayer, Jesus adds the personal address, “Father.” Concerning His atoning work on the cross, Jesus declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30), then He prayed to the Father as a little child turning in for the night.

Paul urged earlyChristiansto “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16). Praying the Psalms built the early Christians into an army of kingdom intercessors. New Testament writers quote more verses from the Psalms than any other Old Testament book.[iv] Praying the Psalter shaped the life of early Christianity into a militant kingdom focus.

Martin Luther relied on the Psalms to become a man of prayer. Said Luther:”When I feel that I have become cool and joyless in prayer because of other tasks or thoughts (for the flesh and the devil always impede and obstruct prayer), I take my little Psalter, hurry to my room, or, if it be the day and hour for it, to the church where a congregation is assembled and, as time permits, I say quietly to myself and word-for-word the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and, if I have time, some words of Christ or of Paul, or some psalms, just as a child might do.”[v]

The Secret that unlocks the Psalter is the fact that it is the prayer book of Jesus, the Messiah and Mediator. He is the Head; the Church is His Body. And Head and Body are one; so the Body should join in the prayers of the Head. With this perspective we can pray all the Psalms, even when the writer protests his innocence or invokes God’s judgment, or goes through infinite depths of suffering. Jesus Christ Himself is praying here and in the whole Psalter.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer observes:”This insight the New Testament and the Church have always recognized and declared. The Man Jesus Christ, to whom no affliction, no ill, no suffering is alien and who yet was the wholly innocent and righteous one, is praying in the Psalter through the mouth of His Church. The Psalter is the prayer book of Jesus Christ in the truest sense of the word. The Psalter is the vicarious prayer of Christ for His Church. This prayer belongs not to the individual member, but to the whole Body of Christ. In the Psalter we learn to pray on the basis of Christ’s prayer.”[vi]Ask the Father to show you the praying Christ in the Psalms and teach you how to use the Psalms in your prayer life.

A Significant Question

One question that often is asked concerning praying the Psalms is: How can I pray a Psalm when it does not express exactly what I feel in my heart at the moment? Anyone who is truly honest will admit the need to pray against our own heart in order to pray rightly. After all is said and done, it is not what we want to pray that is important, but that for which God wants us to pray. Jeremiah warns, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) If we only follow our hearts, we would probably only pray for “our daily bread,” God wants us to pray that His will be done, not our will. As you pray the Psalms, begin by praying, “Father, enable me to pray not from the poverty of my heart, but from the richness of Your word.”

Making the Psalms yours

Let me close this plea to pray the Psalms by sharing with you a few practical suggestions. Below is a thirty-day schedule for praying through the Psalms. Each section requires about fifteen minutes, depending on how much meditation I do.

Before reading pray: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law…. Give me understanding, that I may keep Your law and observe it with my whole heart” (Psalm 119:18, 34). “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts; and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23, 24).

  • While reading turn the words of the Psalms into prayer.

  • Read aloud, in a normal voice if possible but at least in a whisper. (This helps concentration and avoids distraction.)

  • Read on your knees, when possible.

  • Read daily-I usually do this when the Lord awakens me early in the morning.

  • Read frequently during the day–Carry the Psalter with you and refer to the day’s portion frequently.

Let us join Luther in the following prayer:”Our dear Lord, who has given to us and taught us to pray the Psalter and the Lord’s Prayer, grant us also the spirit of prayer and grace so that we pray with enthusiasm and earnest faith, properly and without ceasing, for we need to do this; he has asked us for it and therefore wants to have it from us. To him be praise, honor, and thanksgiving. Amen.”[vii]

[i] Foreword to the Neuburg edition of the Psalms, 1545.

[ii] W. Stanford Reid, The Battle Hymns of the Lord-Calvinist Psalmody of the Sixteenth Century, p. 36.

[iii] The use of question and answer instruction used in Catechisms was part of the Passover celebration. See Exodus 12:25-27: “When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'”

[iv] Nestl

Willing to Change for the Better

by

Fresh off another stint in Vacation Bible School, I’ve found myself reflecting on the week. I heard children recite verses – some lengthy sections from Philippians 2. I listened to our four-year-old granddaughter sing the songs in the afternoons. I watched child after child participate enthusiastically. And almost everybody was there every day-including a large number from outside the church.Could we transplant some of that enthusiasm into the Sunday school?

Before you say it’s different, bear with me. If we are going to reach this generation it will require more than tweaking a few things. We must rethink everything. That requires imagination, creativity with dependence on and direction from our God.

So, if you’re willing, ask some questions. Have you had a kid’s ministry effort that really worked? Why? Can some of those ingredients be incorporated into a program that’s struggling? Or maybe it’s time to stop doing one thing so that you can try another that might be more effective. Underscore the word “might.” You must have the courage to change, which is no small thing, particularly if you fear messing with success. Because you might fail, and then you will have to try again. Where and how will the Spirit work?

Back to Sunday school. What about breaks between the quarters or even a semester system with a lengthy hiatus? That way it doesn’t just keep going, and it can begin again with a fresh burst of energy.What about lengthening the time frame? That also means enlarging your staff to include special activities. What would it take to have a great time of singing? To focus on learning significant sections of the Bible? To have some fun time?

Is it possible to revive the attendance drives that were part of many Sunday schools years ago? That will require challenging programs for adults as well as kids-no small order. But the possible result is families beginning to attend church together and perhaps discovering for the first time the life-changing message of the gospel.Could you try Sunday school at a different time?And what about your teenagers? I saw a number of them taking on adult responsibilities last summer. Could their role in Sunday school be enlarged?

Hopefully I’ve raised enough issues to get you thinking. What you’re doing now may be effective. How can you make it more effective? Or you might have to stretch to justify it. What can you do with it to begin making a difference in the lives of those in your church and your community?