20 or so years ago a dear Christian brother challenged me on the topics of youth groups, Sunday school and church leadership (pastorship vs eldership).
He challenged me to take my time and build a defense for these from the scriptures.
At that time I was an intern pastor with a young marriage and two little ones under three years of age. This man and his wife were different than others at that church. They had 7 children who attended services with them. They never worshiped separately but always together as a family. The children never went to the Sunday schools nor youth groups but my little ones did.
This man and his wife noticed tensions and problems between myself, my wife and our children so the wife approached my wife with a gentle spirit and said "can you see that you are losing the heart of your children?"
Around that same time is when the man proposed to me the challenge to actually defend these modern traditions from the scriptures. I found no defense for them but I did find many scriptures that showed that these were not practices of the early church nor were they to ever be considered as anything we ought to be doing.
It is even more interesting to note that these traditions actually have more in common with current societal practices than they do with scriptures.
For example, in a typical American family’s day they start the day by separating from each other. The husband goes off to work, the wife goes off to work (or on very rare occasions, stays home) and the children get sent off to school.
They spend the day apart from each other, the parents working and the children learning. Keep in mind that the children’s education is typically done by someone other than the parents.
They get back together at the end of the day for a few brief moments prior to heading off to bed. It is important to note that these brief moments ‘together’ really are not that but instead these moments are filled with distractions from each other such as television, sports, video games, socializing (virtual or literal) with friends (or strangers...yikes), etc, etc.
The daily routine as noted above is more in common with church practices today than what church practices have in common with scriptures.
A typical church family will get up on a Sunday and head off to church together. As soon as they enter the building they are separated one from another.
The husband may go off to a men’s bible study and the wife to a woman’s or they may go together to a couples Bible study. Certainly there will be other times where these can be separated such as men’s and women’s Bible studies sometime during the week and in the evening. Something to note here is that my wife states that many women’s Bible studies she has gone to have been nothing more than rumor sessions as well as times to complain about their husbands. I am not saying they are all like this but these “studies” are certainly done with the couples being separated.
The children are separated from their parents on Sunday mornings. They are shipped off to separate rooms to be taught by someone other than their parents under the false notion that age appropriate classes are logical. In the past, when I participated in these practices I found myself having to correct false teachings that were imparted to my children during their Sunday school class.
Then there are the youth groups typically held at different times other than on Sundays. Often times the “young adults” and teens meet both during Sunday services as well as at separate time during the week. In the example of the daily routine of the typical American family given further above this would be that time of day just prior to bed. That time that is filled with many distractions and not family interactions.
I thank the LORD that we woke in time to avoid our children attending any youth groups. Having attended youth groups when I was younger I can recall many occasions where I learned worldly principles from the other fools in the class (foolishness is indeed bound up in the heart of children) verses actually any real Bible truths. I learned more about dating and pre as well as extra marital affairs as well. I saw girls getting pregnant in youth groups and married men flirting with young unmarried girls, etc, etc.
The Bible clearly teaches that it is the father’s responsibility to educate his children, with his wife, in all things regarding spiritual and physical (societal, etc). The Bible gives no support for separating the family for worship but instead encourages for all to do so together.
It is the father’s responsibility to teach the children about the things of God especially in how to worship God. Children cannot learn to worship God as their Daddy does if they are shut up in a room in another part of the building or in a different building altogether. They best learn to worship God by watching their Daddy do it.
Now I am passing along the same challenge that was given to me some 20 years or so ago.
Can you provide a clear defense from scriptures in regards to the practices of the modern church?
I purposefully withheld providing scriptures here as it is each person’s responsibility to “prove all things” and to “hold fast that which is good”.
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