Thursday, April 26, 2012

Kids & Theology

I met this nice young mom of 3 at the park this afternoon.  As we chatted, I found out she's new to the area and is church hopping.  They've tried a Lutheran, Evangelical Free, and a few others after attending a Reformed church where they lived previously.
Hmmm....Reformed, Lutheran, E. Free?
Typical.
Most families today church hop to find the most engaging preacher, hippest music, lots of programs, etc.  They are not looking at doctrine.  They have no clue what their theology is (what they believe about God).

When I got home I opened the latest issue of Mod Ref and read the article by Simonetta Carr titled Theology for Children.  I'm convinced that families today church hop and look for all the wrong things in a church simply because they don't know their theology.  And why don't they know their theology?  Because their parents failed to teach them.   This failure has been happening for generations.

What is theology?  It's the study of God.  We learn about God from His Word (Col. 1:10, II Peter 3:18).  It's essential to teach our children about the Lord Jesus Christ because if we don't, the world will teach him other "theologies". 

Where do we start?  I agree with Simonetta: the Heidelberg Catechism, one of the historical Reformed catechisms.  The Heidelberg is all inclusive; it includes all the categories we need to teach our children about God: law, gospel, and our response to the gospel.  Once your child can talk, it's time to start catechizing!  When Aidan wakes up from his nap, I'm going to ask him, "Aidan, who made you?"  And he'll respond with, "GOD!"  

Rote memorization?!  Contrary to popular opinion, children LOVE to memorize.  They are sponges and love to learn.  Fill them with catechism, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and some verses.  Simonetta writes it best, "...rote memorization is only dogmatic if it aims at teaching a system of belief without pointing to the underlying factual reality, or if it does so without welcoming critical thinking.  Christian doctrine is based on historical facts and has particularly grown in understanding and clarity when challenged.  In our children's education, dogmatism is avoided by moving from the parroting stage of mimicking information by rote (to follow Dorothy Sayers' definitions) to the pert stage (i.e. the logic-chopping and sometimes sassy stage evidenced by such questions as, "But why?"), and finally the poet stage, where a mature youth knows what he believes, why he believes it, and is able to communicate as much to others," (Mod Ref, Vol. 21, pg. 18).  That's classical education at its finest.  And, oh how I pray that Aidan will be classically educated so that he may be this "mature believer" not only in his faith, but in his academics.

Isn't theology too abstract for children?  Have you ever seen a child's frustrations over his continual wrongdoings?  He/she may be ready to embrace the answer from the Heidelberg: "I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor."  This is a perfect opportunity for parents to then present the gospel and encourage their frustrated child to trust Christ for help through repentance and faith.  That's what the sweet gospel is - daily repenting of our sin and turning to the perfect, sinless Christ who fulfilled our due punishment on the cross.

Theology for parents?  Yes, theology essential for parents too.  I know this post is getting lengthy, but I want to share what Simonetta says in her article.  "One of my children was always a great visual illustration of the power of sin in our lives.  He seemed to be hopelessly drawn to anything that was forbidden, sometimes literally crawling to his desired object...Of course, my son was punished, but I was surprised to notice the reaction his repeated failures were causing in my heart.  I am not sure how I would have reacted earlier, but being in a Reformed church, I was now fully aware of my sinful condition.  Instead of rage or despair, I felt compassion.  I talked to my son often, about his sin and mine.  We read Romans 7 together.  I told him how he was struggling with disobedience and how I, at that moment, was dealing with sinful anger...a healthy view of sin also prevents some of the typical anxieties that afflict many parents," (pg 19).  In God's eyes, we are all his children - we all sin, we all cause disappointment, and we all fail.  As Simonetta writes, we are all fellow pilgrims in this valley of tears.

So I beg you to teach your children theology and, if you don't know it yourself, learn together.  Grab a copy of the Heidelberg Catechism and read the Bible.  Rest in knowing that we serve a God who works through covenants to build His church despite our many, many failures as parents to teach our children theology.

*************
1. Aidan had a blast at the park this afternoon.  He LOVES the tallest, twistiest slide.
2. Bop-Bop rode his motorcycle and surprised us with a visit!  It was so so wonderful to have him here for a short 24 hours.  Aidan went down for his nap saying, "Bop-Bop ride, Bop-Bop ride."  I think it will be a few days before he stops obsessing about Bop-Bop.  Thanks, Dad!  Love you!


1 comments:

Publican_Chest said...

we like kids, theology, and the Lunds!

Great post.