Children's Church

Behold the lamentable absence of an affection for God amongst the toddlers, the children, and the young adults proceeding from Christian families in many, or indeed almost all, of our churches! (And I speak with confidence in saying all, for one may safely surmise that the families who attend the public assembly only upon the Sabbath have fathers who do not lead their households in daily, intentional worship within their homes!) This barren spiritual state, this terrible lack of filial devotion, doth stem entirely from the unfulfilled, sacred obligations of the parents. They have grievously failed in the Divine charge to rear their household in the Holy Scriptures and in the profound, saving fear of the LORD.

Woe unto that parent who seeks only the physical provision for his children while allowing their souls to starve! The home is the first school of piety, and if the fountainhead be polluted, how shall the streams run clean? May this solemn truth drive us all to the earnest performance of our covenantal duties!

Hear now a charge against the spirit of this age: It is a pathetic and flimsy excuse to declare, "We simply do not have the time!"

Nay, what men are truly confessing is one of two painful spiritual truths: First, "I did not know I was charged by God to lead my family daily in a devotion and worship," a sad ignorance of covenantal duty! Or, secondly, and more grievous still, "I do not possess the sanctified will to make time for it," revealing a heart given over to sloth.

These are the same souls who can sit for endless hours fiddling with their worthless gadgets, or consuming entire days with the viewing of frivolous motion pictures, or else engrossing themselves in other matters they deem 'important'!

In this modern day of spiritual anesthesia, we have become dangerously detached from the essential reality of God. We commit the error of assuming that simply because we attend the public assembly, our children shall automatically inhale piety and learn the fear of the Almighty. We have become shamefully lazy, delegating the principal task of teaching our own children to the hands of others within the congregation, believing this to be the easy, acceptable way of the people of God.

Consider the folly of this delegation: What manner of masteral degree could any soul hope to acquire from a mere forty-five minutes of lecture once per week? Assuredly, the same thin and deficient piety is gained by our children through the convenient weekly Sunday school!

Let us settle this truth: A child's outward, placid behaviour is not, in the sight of God, equivalent to a truly God-fearing heart. The tranquil deportment of the child is not the measure of his regeneration! The pleasant exercise of colouring Noah's Ark is not equivalent to the sanctifying work of memorizing Holy Scripture. And the regularity of attending the Church assembly is not equivalent to the presence of a truly godly home.

We have adopted a twisted form of pragmatism in this age—a practice that relies blindly upon what we may outwardly see in the conduct of our children, heedless of what the Omniscient God doth see in the innermost chambers of their hearts! We are deceived by the appearance and neglect the necessity of the New Birth.

Leading family worship every night Monday to Sunday is not an easy task. It requires exclusive grace that the LORD gives only to those who ask of it in behalf of His name for his household's sake. 

"The daily regular and solemn reading of God's holy Word by a parent before his children is one of the most powerful agencies of a Christian life. We are prone to undervalue this cause. It is a constant dropping, but it wears its mark into the rock. A family thus trained cannot be ignorant of the Word. The whole Scriptures come repeatedly before the mind. The most heedless child must observe and retain some portion of the sacred oracles; the most forgetful must treasure up some passages for life. No one part of juvenile education is more important. Between families thus instructed and those where the Bible is not read the contrast is striking. To deny such a source of influence to the youthful mind is an injustice, at the thought of which a professor of Christianity may well tremble. The filial affections are molded by family worship. The child beholds the parent in a peculiar relation. Nowhere is the Christian father so venerable as where he leads his house in prayer. The tenderness of love is hallowed by the sanctity of reverence.

The gracious promises of God to His Church, while they do not necessarily transmit salvation in the line of natural descent, perpetually recognize the relation of parent and child. God determines that His great favors shall descend from age to age. "The promise is to you and to your children." From the beginning of the world, He has dealt with mankind on the family principal. Every covenant has comprised succeeding generations." 

Alexander, James. 1847. Thoughts on Family Worship. Soli deo Gloria publications. 

No time? Look at your children and see if this is the kind of Christianity our Lord died for. Do we not reap what we sow? What is there to reap without any sowing? 

It shall be to the greater spiritual benefit of our precious children that the usual, superficial Sunday School format be radically changed to resemble an actual church service—a miniature assembly, to be sure, using language fitted for their tender comprehension.

To this end, we shall commence a serious expository method of teaching and experiential application, beginning with the rich typology of Numbers 20. For we are ever mindful of our own weakness, and thus we look solely to our gracious Father to provide for our insufficiency in this great work! This solemn service shall be followed by the necessary Catechism Class, diligently handled by our faithful member teachers. The instruction shall fittingly conclude with the reverent recitation of the Decalogue, thereby engraving the eternal Law of God upon their young hearts.

The common fear of children not understanding this level of teaching is unfounded. We read in the book of Joshua how he read the law to all the families including the nursing children. 

And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.

Joshua 8:34-35