CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

Church Leadership

Christian Education: A Blue Chip Ministry

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By Allen Curry. Financial advisors often recommend that people have a number of utilities or blue chip stocks in their portfolios. Brokers reason that although these stocks may not be the most glamorous, they are the most consistent performers. They don’t always go up as high as the glamour stocks and seldom do they drop as precipitously.

In many ways, the ministry of Christian education in the church is a blue chip ministry. It certainly does not have the glamour of some other ministries in the church. Nevertheless, it is a consistent performer in almost all congregations.

In most churches there is no other ministry that involves as many people. When one considers Sunday school, youth ministries, Bible studies, etc., it is easy to see how extensive this ministry is in most congregations.

The ministry of Christian education affords more people the opportunity to learn to exercise their gifts and serve others in the context of biblical ministry. The vast number of tasks that must be done in the areas of teaching and organization in any Christian education program involves many people. These people are engaged in Christian service.

Christian education also provides the most effective means for preserving people’s relationships with the church. The Search Institute did a major study on what was the most important variable in churches where people continued in the church from childhood through adulthood. To no one’s surprise the answer was Christian education.

A large PCA congregation did an informal survey of where people felt they were most influenced in their Christian life. Again, no one was surprised to find that it was in the Christian education ministry they received as young people.

Probably few people within the context of reformed churches doubt the usefulness of the educational ministry of the church. Traditionally these churches have emphasized educational ministry. Nevertheless, it is often a ministry that is under-utilized.

One of the reasons for this is the churches sometimes lose their focus in dealing with Christian education. All too many people look at Christian education from the maintenance point of view. They don’t expect very much from it, they aren’t sure how it got started, but since it’s there they feel they should keep it going. Although this could be described as a shameful attitude, it is still surprising how well Christian education continues to function within churches, even with this attitude.

Responding to God’s Revelation of Himself

How does one maintain focus in Christian education? First of all, it’s a good idea to have some notion of what Christian education is. Let me suggest that one way to view Christian education is the people of God responding to God’s revelation of Himself to them. If God says to His people, “I want you to know me and I am going to show you who I am,” it stands to reason that we should study and learn who He is. In its simplest form, perhaps this is how we should see Christian education.

A church that centers its Christian education ministry on understanding God and His revelation to His people will certainly reap major dividends. The repeated and sophisticated use of the Word as a means of grace transforms churches. People who are saturated with the Word are more likely to love God and their neighbors and to engage in acts of Christian service.

In churches where the people learn to look at the world from the point of view of the Creator, there most likely will be people who engage in social, political and cultural pursuits that honor Christ.

Readers of this article are probably saying to themselves that this is not new and they are right. It may be rare but it definitely is not new. That is the point. Recapturing the focus of Christian education as discovering and appropriating God’s revelation of Himself forms the church into a Christian body where the essentials of the Christian religion are prized and practiced.

A Covenant Phenomenon

Christian education also should be seen as a covenant phenomenon. Just as one of the major ways in which God reveals Himself to us is through His Word, the book of the Old Covenant and New Covenant, so He desires for His people to know Him within the special relationship that He has as the God of the covenant. He has given us these books of the Old and New Covenant to help us understand who He is and how we should serve Him. Most of all, the covenant calls us to relationship with God.

So also should Christian education. The study and learning that goes on always should be to the end that we see that we are related to God through our Savior Jesus Christ. This is where our education has its distinctively Christian identity.

If our people learn to live covenantally, in relationshipto God, dramatic results occur in the church. Families see themselves as responsible to God for the rearing of their children. That responsibility is not onerous but a privilege.

Again one is reminded of the strength of the reformed tradition where children were trained in homes where Jesus was honored and then went into the world to honor Jesus. A covenantal Christian education ministry can accomplish the same things today it did a century ago in our nation, in Scotland and in the Netherlands. One of the major differences in family practice between that day and ours is that the parents thought of themselves as responsible to God for the nurture of their children. They were taught this in church and obeyed the teaching in their homes. One of the results was a stable family life. Almost everyone who reads this article has probably bemoaned the decline of the stable Christian family not only in the society at large but also in the church. Covenantal education addresses that problem and offers a solution. I am not being simplistic. I recognize that there are differences between the society of today and that of a century ago. Nevertheless, the family of a century ago was steeped in the Christian notions of being related to God and making sure the children of those homes recognized and prized the relationship.

Kingdom Enterprise

Christian education also is a kingdom enterprise. This is one of the ways that we serve God by establishing His hegemony over all of life. The heavens and the earth declare the glory of God. As people come to learn this, they come to be more effective citizens of the kingdom. Because Christian education is a kingdom ministry, we should have great confidence in its efficacy in God’s economy.

In a society committed to pluralistic relativism and to no other values, Christians struggle to understand and to propagate their faith. But if we have a kingdom focus in our educational ministry, then people will understand that they live in enemy territory and the enemy has a different, really contradictory, value system. Followers of King Jesus need to be taught how to prize being right without being arrogant. A kingdom perspective in our educational ministry enables us to give people a framework in which they can battle those who disagree with them without denying that their enemies are image bearers of God.

Central to our Lord’s teaching was the announcement that the kingdom of God was at hand. He ushered in the kingdom and rules now as King over all the earth. Christian education focuses on helping people to understand this truth and equips them to implement it in their lives. We dare not deny that the battle is real. And if the battle is real then people need to be equipped to fight the battle. Because people are ignorant of the differences between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world, they are like soldiers in a battle who have only blanks for ammunition. If a Christian educational ministry does not equip people to do battle against the evil one then it has failed to accomplish one of the central thrusts of the enterprise.

Establish His Relationships

Within the covenant context we not only develop our relationship to God through our Savior Jesus Christ, but we also establish our relationship to the brothers and sisters in the church and to those people outside. As members of the covenant we learn how to serve our great King and how to do battle with those outside of the kingdom.

No one should be surprised at how closely related Christian education is to the center of what the church does. I would argue that it, therefore, ought to have a central role to play in the overall ministry of the church. That’s what I mean by getting Christian education back into focus. In many churches Christian education seems to have a place at the periphery of ministry rather than at its heart.

Some may wonder if the effort can pay the sort of dividends that have been suggested. Can we expect that a clearly focused Christian education program in the church will equip people to live as Christians in the midst of an ungodly society? I believe that the answer is yes.

Besides the arguments that can be made from the history of our tradition, there are a number of cultural reasons why Christian education can be effective in our day. All one has to do is look at his or her property tax bill to see that we are a people who expect a great deal from education and invest a great deal in it. North Americans are particularly prone to believe that personal and social problems can best be handled through the educational process. Since this is the way we think, it seems wise for the church to exploit the educational ministry to the fullest.

When people see a need, whether it be national or congregational, they frequently suggest that education is the way to address the problem. With this mindset, it seems to me that Christian education ought to occupy a center part of any congregation’s life.

Since people are more likely to get involved in Christian education than any other ministry of the church, it stands to reason that we should make sure that it is properly focused. Because more people learn how to use their God-given gifts for service of the Savior in the educational ministry of the church, does it not make sense to make sure that there is a self-conscious effort to equip them and others in accordance with the demands of the Christian faith in the church and out of it? Christian education certainly is a blue chip ministry in the church’s ministry portfolio. A church without an adequate Christian education ministry is impoverished. Christian education is always there to do its job. It deserves more than simply a maintenance mindset. If one ignores his portfolio it will probably perform adequately over a long period of time. But if one analyzes the focuses his portfolio the dividends will grow. So it is with the church. Most churches have and can continue to depend on their educational ministry to bring God’s blessing to the congregation. Why simply strive for maintenance? Why not try to bring it closer to the central focus of the ministry of the church? Even blue chip ministries need to be examined regularly and evaluated periodically.

Probe questions:

1. Has your church done a Christian education audit recently? The article suggests a regular evaluation of that area of your church’s ministry. (CE&P has resources to help in this process.)

2. Are you, as a leader in your church, aware of how much of your church’s ministry is considered Christian education? Do the people in your church understand that?

3. What new thought or thoughts did you have in reading this article? For example: most people tend to think of education as an objective theoretical process, not as something relational and covenantal.

3. Dr. Curry states that Christian education is a key to the church’s relations, both vertically and horizontally. Can you identify ways that your education program encourages not only good understanding of the Christian faith but also building relationships in the congregation as well?

4. What is different about doing Christian education from a kingdom focus?

In the article, Curry refers to those who do Christian education mainly from a maintenance mode in contrast those who are innovative, creative, and intentional. How would you describe your church in that respect?

Why Baptize Infants?

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chd-inside.jpgPeople often ask the important question of why Presbyterians baptize infants. Recently, a pastor asked if there was a way to ordain a person to the office of ruling elder who was reformed in everyway except he could not commit to “infant baptism.” I faced it as a pastor on one occasion and have responded to that question often as coordinator of CEP.

What makes the practice of infant baptism, also called covenant baptism, so difficult is that we equate baptism with one’s salvation. Once we do that we are not far from a position the Protestant reformers tried to correct- namely the doctrine of sacerdotalism. That means the sacraments are more than means of grace. They convey saving grace on the recipients. So to be saved, one has to have faith in Christ and be baptized.

Some are also confused about baptism in general and specifically infant baptism because the doctrine of the covenant is not understood. Baptism is a sign of the covenant of grace whereby we are saved. Who are to be the recipients of baptism? Believers and their children! In the book of Acts we read of certain adults being converted to Christ, being baptized, and their households with them, which obviously included children. God promises in the covenant of grace that he will be our God and the God of our children. Baptism is a sign of that covenant promise.

In the previous “In Case You’re Asked,” I dealt with teachings in the PCA’s Book of Church Order relating to the baptism of covenant children. Without repeating those references, I will expand on the covenant promise and the doctrine of children in the covenant.

Recently, I took part in a discussion that grew out of a series of questions:

How do we become children of God? What do we have to do to become a child of God? Are covenant children presumed elect and regenerate until they give us a reason to believe differently or are we to presume that they are unregenerate until we see signs of being born again? People have debated these questions through the years. But what difference does it make which way we go with this? After all, people on both sides agree that salvation is by grace through faith and there is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved.

The truth is that we baptize infants, neither to make them children of God nor to pronounce their salvation. They are already children of God and therefore heirs of the covenant promises. Baptism is not an empty sign. It is filled with deep theological meaning. It declares that the recipients belong to God, to a believing family, and therefore to the church of Jesus Christ. They are entitled to all the benefits of the covenant.

Several months ago I was sent a copy of a reprinted classic written sixty-three years ago. The book, The Presbyterian Doctrine Of Children in the Covenant, A Historical Study of the Significance of Infant Baptism in the Presbyterian Church, is byLewis Bevens Schenck, a professor at Davidson College, North Carolina for more than forty years. Schenck focuses on the argument between Charles Hodge and James Thronwell, two outstanding Presbyterian theologians and churchmen. Thronwell and Robert Dabney believed that “baptism makes the child a child of the covenant” while Hodge advocated that children were baptized because they were children of the covenant. Schneck maintains that because God’s promise to Abraham included children, they were to be identified. Therefore, the covenant sign of circumcision, the Old Testament version of New Testament baptism, publicly marked the children.

The children of the promise are sealed through baptism because “they are presumed to be partakers of the regeneration signified in baptism.” Frank James, professor at Reformed Theological Seminary, wrote in the introduction of this volume, “Schneck especially appreciates and follows Calvin’s broad understanding of regeneration which is understood to mean not only the beginning of spiritual life but progressive sanctification as well,” page xii. (We refer to “progressive sanctification” in the book Life of Faith by A. W. Pink in the review section.)

In America since the second great awakening and the beginnings of the revival movement, there has been a steady de-emphasis on the covenant and its meaning among Christians. The revivalistic view posits there has to be some big event in a person’s life leading to his or her conversion. (See the book review Live to Tell in this issue.) That doctrine takes the heart out of God’s covenant promises. There has been the tendency to view even our covenant children as outside the parameters of the covenant until they repent and believe. Hence, we must evangelize our covenant children. It is true we must disciple our covenant children by teaching them who they are and the significance of their baptism from the very beginning. But we must also help them understand the necessity of believing in Christ and repenting of their sins. That means that believing parents disciple their children by treating them as covenant children, rather than assuming that they are not until a particular time.

Bob Palmer reminds us in the lead article of God’s great displeasure over his people’s neglect of the covenant and its signs. Schneck goes to great lengths to point out that neglecting to baptize our covenant children is tantamount to ingratitude toward God and neglect of our children’s spiritual well being. Frank James says this about believing families who presume their children to be unregenerate, “This was intolerable and detrimental to the child, not to mention the fact that it betrays the covenantal structure of God’s relationship with his people,” page xv.

In the discussion mentioned above, someone asked me what real difference it makes whether we presume covenant children are elect or are in the process of being regenerated. I responded, “It makes great difference both in how we view covenant children and how we train and instruct them.” We disciple covenant children on the presumption that they are children of God and are to be baptized and taught all things whatsoever Christ has commanded. We do not presume that they are children of the darkness; that would cut across everything that the covenant promise represents.

Baptism is a sign and seal with great biblical and theological implications. And just as we did not establish the covenant, neither did we determine the sign of the covenant. Those were God’s gracious and loving acts. God is the signifier and signified in baptism whether it be for a covenant child or a covenant adult. I like to remind the people during a covenant baptismal service, especially of an infant, that this event marks the beginning of teaching this precious covenant child who he or she is in Christ and what this sign of baptism signifies. It is not merely a ritual. Certainly it contains mystery but God reveals his truth to us in order that we might understand and obey him. When we participate in baptism, by faith we will see the very hand of God working through his promises to us and to our children.

To conclude, Schneck writes, “The covenant idea of education had been extensively supplanted in the popular mind and ‘well nigh lost’ to the world. The principle of the Reformed faith, that the child brought up under Christ influence should never know a time when love to God was not an active principle in its life,” (page 153).

I would use Schneck’s book in a seminary Christian education course or among the local church leadership. I do not believe that it is possible to read this book without it profoundly affecting your participation in the sacrament of baptism as a church member. So in case you’re asked why we baptize infants, be prepared to respond with grateful and gracious assurance, “Because they are children of the covenant. They belong to the King and his sign and seal are to identify them as his.”

A Time to Evaluate

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I’m the Director of Discipleship Ministries at Covenant Church in Fayetteville, Georgia. For over a year we’ve been doing an in-depth evaluation of our Christian education efforts. Evaluation should be a regular part of everything we do.

We’ve looked at our community. Who we are reaching. Who we’re not. A large number of African Americans are moving into what we consider our “parish.” How is it possible for us to become a more racially integrated congregation?

We’ve looked at our purpose against the backdrop of the church’s broader purpose. We want “to introduce people to Jesus and help them grow in their relationship to him and to others.” The short version is “Reach and teach to love and serve.” That’s our summary of discipleship.

We’ve looked at our curriculum. Does it do what we want? Are there ways we need to supplement? We’ve checked attendance records. How are we doing relative to the community and to the church ministries? We interviewed teachers and leaders. What do they think they have achieved?

Then we took a further step, one that the church’s Christian Education committee thought was a natural outgrowth of our analysis. We decided to interview young people who spent a substantial part of their growing up years in the congregation. We invited six young adults to join a round table in which they assessed the impact of the congregation’s efforts on their behalf.

When I mentioned to them what we were doing, the response was basically, “What a gutsy thing to do.” But we didn’t think of it that way. In fact, I would favor such a discussion with some who had dropped out of church somewhere along the way.

It is God who changes hearts. But for whatever reason, he has chosen to use us. I believe he is most pleased when we do the best we’re able to do. To put it another way, a teacher hasn’t taught until the student has learned. With the gospel, learning is used by the Spirit to produce change – in our thinking, our desires, and our activities. So it makes sense to see what the product looks like. It also makes sense to assess the perceived impact our efforts have made.

In this case we were affirmed. Certain teachers and leaders stood out. The overall assessment was that they were grounded in our theology and sensitized to the importance of relationships. Mission trips opened their eyes to God’s will for his people everywhere. They were taught to serve. The biggest weakness discussed was the availability of programming for those recently out of high school.

The next step in our process is to talk with a larger cross section of the congregation to brainstorm where we go from here. Out of that, goals and strategy will emerge.

A Kingdom Perspective on Baptism

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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?