What comes to your mind when you think about a children's ministry? Probably “Sunday School”. However, as a Sunday School teacher, I have at most 52 hours per year with a child. My influence is limited. Compare my 52 hours with the 1,352 hours of a working parent, and it is clear that the parent has a greater influence ... 26x more (see calculations below).
Is there a need to realign our children's ministry to think beyond Sunday School to a parenting ministry?
The instruction given in Deut. 6: 4-9 speaks of spiritual formation in everyday life. The teaching of God's word to our children “when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” is best carried out by parents because they spend the most time with the children. They have many opportunities that they can seize upon to teach. We Sunday School teachers do not have that advantage.
Shouldn't we equip parents to carry out their responsibility of teaching their children?
We all know the story of baby Moses – how he was found and given back to his mother Jochebed to nurse. When Moses was older, he was brought back to Pharaoh’s daughter. We do not know how long Jochebed nursed Moses but she imparted to him a love for his people, so much so that when he saw an Egyptian beating one of his own people, he killed the Egyptian.
We know about Moses’ excuses, but do we know why he finally answered God's call? I believe it was Moses’ love for his people because God told Moses, “I have seen the misery of my people ... I have heard them crying ... and I am concerned about their suffering.”
Then there was the golden calf incident that angered God. He wanted to destroy the Israelites and start over again with Moses, but Moses interceded and appealed to God to forgive them. He was even willing to have his name blotted out of God’s book. What is my point? The wisdom of Egypt was no match for the teaching of Jochebed!
Parents are potentially the best teachers of their children! There is a need to realign a children’s ministry from Sunday School to a parenting ministry.
“May I see your licence, please?”
Suppose you were stopped by traffic police and asked, “May I see your licence, please?” You produce it, only to have him say, “This is not the one.” “But this is my driving licence!” “I need your parenting licence,” he explains.
On 28 September 2014, Clara Chow, in her Sunday Times column “Seriously Kidding”, explored the wild idea of a parenting licence. But is the idea that far out? If we need to have a driving licence to drive, then why not a parenting licence to parent?
Some years ago, my younger son gave me a fridge magnet with these words on it, “Anyone can be a father, it takes someone special to be a daddy”. Many would-be parents sit through hours of antenatal classes to prepare for the birth of their child. Shouldn’t they continue with lessons for the greater challenge of bringing up the child in the years ahead?
Clara went on to say that it would be difficult to implement a licensing scheme for parents. She raised the following questions: Who exactly is qualified enough, or impartial enough, to sort all would-be parents into Competent and Incompetent classes? What kind of questions do you put on a Parent Licence theory test? Who decides which parenting sins would get your licence revoked?
She concluded, “So, instead of parenting licences, we should have a voluntary parenting accreditation scheme. Sort of like the one recently announced for preschools with best practices.”
Why we need parenting education
Yes, we believe that parents should go for parenting classes, not to be accredited but to be equipped for the critical task of bringing up the next generation to fear the LORD and keep His commandments. Yet many parents have delegated this task to Sunday School teachers.
As a Sunday School teacher, I have at most 1 hour per week with a child. A working parent has an estimated 26 hours each week (2 hours per day on weekdays and 8 hours per day on weekends). Compare that 26 hours with my 1 hour, and it is clear that the parent has a greater potential for influence ... 26 times more. Parents, through living with their children, are also better placed to relate the Word of God to their children’s lives. Children, in turn, can see daily to how the Word of God is lived out and practised in their parents’ lives.
As mentioned, parents are potentially the best teachers for their children, and it makes sense to channel resources and training towards them. At the other end, parents (who desire the best for their children) need to be trained to achieve and maximise their potential influence on their children.
Sermon preached at Mt Carmel Bible-Presbyterian Church on 25 and 26 August 2012
Click to stream OR right-click to download: You Choose Your Impact (format mp3, size 16 MB)
Sermon preached at St Andrew's Cathedral on 17 August 2014
Let the Children Come (format mp3, size 9 MB)