Spiritual Development

Are children too young to learn about Jesus? No, a recent study found that 85% of people made their decision for Jesus between the ages of 4 to 14 years old. The Barna Research Group also released a report of similar research.

Sharing Jesus with children is important. Here are some ideas to help you -

> Prayer
> Children's church
> Bible study for children
> Holding community programs for children
> Starting a playgroup
> Holding a child's commitment service
> How to teach children

What did Jesus have to say about children?

Jesus had much to say about the role of adults in the spiritual development of children, and about the spiritual lessons to be learned from children. He also gave us His example to guide our actions in training our children.

The following article is about the role of adults in the spiritual development of children. It is adapted from a sermon by Audray Johnson, Director of Family Ministries, Seventh-day Adventist Church, South Eastern California.

Jesus identified closely with children
Jesus honoured children and taught us about their spiritual development. Mark 9:37 describes Jesus holding a little child in His arms and saying, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me."

Jesus elevated the faith of children
Matthew 18:3 states, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Jesus holds up the faith of a child as a standard for entrance into His kingdom.

Jesus warned about causing children to sin
In the early verses of Mark 9, the disciples had been in dispute over who should be the greatest and they were somewhat uncomfortable with Jesus' object lesson in Mark 9:37. After trying to skirt the issue with another question, Jesus drew the disciples back to His point about children, specifically the influences of those guiding the children. "And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck" (Mark 9:42). Jesus is talking about anything that adversely affects the child's belief in Him - attitudes and actions that lead a child away from God, discourages him or her, or does something that would make it hard for the child to believe in a loving God of grace. Jesus would have older ones to encourage the spiritual development of our children and the church's children by teaching, by examples of grace, by love, peace, joy and all the evidences of the fruit of the Spirit of God within. There are several practical ways in which we do this.

Provide your child with emotional security
If it is safe to talk about anything at home, with reasonable calmness, children will learn to be comfortable talking about anything with God. If it is safe to discuss things in Sabbath School, or Bible study, and leaders are open to working with minds that are learning and questioning, then it will be easy for the child or youth to bring his or her concerns to God. However, if anger and shouting have become the pattern in the home, if parents and teachers become disturbed or shocked or angry with inquisitive young minds, it will be much harder for a child to believe that everything can be brought to God. The still, small voice of God may well be drowned out by the angry, hurtful voices of parents and siblings.

Encourage your child's trust
When home is a caring place where physical and other needs are met, children readily learn that God can be counted on to care for them. However, for those who have been neglected, it becomes difficult for them to learn that God really does supply our every need.

Develop your child's sense of personal worth
Healthy self-esteem is formed when children are affirmed and youth are encouraged (and when their parents, grandparents and other adults close to them affirm one another also!). When children are made aware of how precious they are to their care-givers, it will help them to understand that God values them as well.

Use appropriate discipline with your child to develop self-discipline and respect
When children are taught from an early age through loving and appropriate discipline, they learn to order their lives with self-discipline. They learn how to live under the authority of God and to properly respect earthly authorities. Teaching respect to children is best done by earning their respect.

Lack of self-discipline.
If children are ruled by punishments, beatings and other physical abuse, self-discipline will be hardly learned at all.

Impaired perception of God
What is worse for their spiritual experience is that, in their minds, God will carry the biggest stick of all. Many become adults who struggle all their lives to relate to God as a God of love. While they may intellectually understand that God probably loves them, they cannot escape the feat that, if they step out of life, God stands ready to mete out harsh punishments.

Arrested character development
Recent studies have shown that the more corporal punishment is used, the less chance there is for character development. Christians should not be surprised at this because of the patience and longsuffering of God and His great reticence to expose His beloved people to any kind of harsh correction.

Increased combativeness
Behavioural scientists are learning today that violence increases combativeness - in other words, violence begets violence.

Effects of loving touch
When healthy, appropriate touch is commonplace in the family, love is learned and returned. Those affectionate little hugs and kisses, holding children close, reading to them, telling them stories, those tender moments when little ones feel loved, those are the times when children learn about love. The love of parents and other humans teaches about God's love. They will delight in the stories of Jesus who picked up the children and held them on His lap. They will carry with them into adulthood the notion that God delights in them, holding them dear.

The betrayal of sexual abuse
When sexual abuse takes place, especially by a parent, it is difficult indeed for a child to learn what it is to relate to the perfect love of God. Many adults still struggle with that today. Only those who have experienced sexual abuse can understand that while the grace of God helps get them through, the pain of the experience never completely disappears. Betrayal of this kind goes to the deepest part of the soul and produces very ugly scars.

Jesus views offence to children so seriously that He reserves the direst consequences for those who offend. It is important to have discipline and order in the home or in society, but such teaching and discipline must always be in the context of grace. It is often hard to learn to do things in ways you have not seen. Most parents do things the way their parents did. From generation to generation habits have been passed down, and cultural programming is hard to override. But Jesus informs us, even in our cultural setting, that we are different! We can, through the power offered to us, learn the ways of the kingdom of God.

God has called us to serve Him with a heart of love. He has called us to pass along that love to our children and our children's children. Beginning with those times when our babies were in the cot, we taught them our theology as we picked them up. When we ourselves cried in the cot and we were picked up and kissed, we learned that we were loved. We teach our children that they are sacred when we do the same for them.