Charles Spurgeon said, “You are teaching children, so mind what you teach them. Take care what you are doing! …It is a child’s soul you are tampering with… It is a child’s soul you are preparing for eternity… If it is an evil to mislead gray-headed age, it must be far more so to turn aside the feet of the young into the road of error, in which they may forever walk.”
Should Children’s Ministry exist to lay the groundwork for a lifetime of discipleship?
Are we equipping parents through discipleship and instruction so that they fully understand that they are accountable by God to train up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? (see Deut. 6:4-9; Mth. 28:19-20; Eph. 6:4; 2 Tim. 3:14-15)
“Should Children’s Ministry exist to lay the groundwork for a lifetime of discipleship?”
That IS the question! The reality is, it now DOES exist, so how do we keep it from encroaching and replacing the foundation God put in place – PARENTS – and make sure we support and not supplant parents in our efforts to help them?
It is not a should. It is to do so. The issue that comes up is do the parents understand the full implication of the biblical mandate of parents. Do parents truly take the full responsibility of teaching and instructing their children? It is the churches role to remind and point them back to this truth of Psalm 78:1-8. If not, the truth of Psalm 78:9ff will the future generation.
Sadly, many parents do not own up to their responsibility, especially in unchurched homes. I think that in both Christian and non-believing homes, the church community has a responsibility to be a part of their lives in such a way that they begin to sense their responsibility. That is, they see the interaction of parents and children who are fully engaged in family discipleship and they begin to imagine how that would look in their homes.