Friday Communication - 16th February 2024
February is a month when a number of the grandchildren have their birthdays, growing older, growing into life, like the generations before them. Being a grandparent is living with a consciousness of five generations, having a life that connects great great grandparents, my grandparents, to my grandchildren. It is a rich privilege, a rich awareness of the continuity of life, of God’s providential care through many lives and over decades, and of His faithfulness to His promises to generation after generation of believers. As the Psalmist says “From eternity to eternity the LORD’s faithful love is towards those who fear Him, and His righteousness toward the grandchildren of those who keep His covenant, who remember to observe His precepts.” [Psalm 103:17-18 CSB]
But that consciousness of the generations coming and going is also an awareness of the reality of death. None of us stays around forever, none of us can hold onto our life here. It is that awareness that brings home again the privilege of sharing the gospel between generations, of being able to pass on to our children and grandchildren the hope that the gospel gives that ‘We will be with the Lord forever.” [1 Thessalonians 4:17-18] In God’s great mercy, in His extraordinary generosity to His frail creatures, parting need not be forever. It is a privilege to share the gospel that mediates to our children both God’s steadfast love and the hope He gives, a privilege which is also the responsibility of every Christian parent. This responsibility to both teach and model Christian faith and life, to bring up our children as disciples of the Lord Jesus by teaching them to do all the Lord Jesus has commanded us, is both our nearest and most demanding discipleship task. Most demanding because our children witness so much of our lives and hear so many of our words. Nearest because their care is entrusted to us from the beginning of their lives and our children are our responsibility before they are anyone else’s. Teaching the gospel to our children therefore deserves our consistent prayers, thought, and devotion of energy. If we fail to disciple our children how could we think we would obey Jesus’ command in any other context?
This responsibility to both teach and model Christian faith and life, to bring up our children as disciples of the Lord Jesus by teaching them to do all the Lord Jesus has commanded us, is both our nearest and most demanding discipleship task.
As a congregation we have always sought to encourage and help our parents in their God given responsibilities, to share with them in the privilege of transmitting the gospel to the children in the congregation. Ministry to children is part of our commitment to making disciples of all nations, a commitment that starts with those nearest us and spreads out to the world. We help by members volunteering to teach Sunday School and Sunday Youth, and to run Kid’s Club and Youth Group, and employing a children’s pastor and a youth pastor to help sustain our service in these areas. These are contexts where the gospel taught at home can be heard from others, where our children can develop Christian peers, where they can ask questions, and where they can invite their friends to hear about the Lord Jesus. Those ministries are a real help to making disciples of our children.
As a congregation we have always sought to encourage and help our parents in their God given responsibilities, to share with them in the privilege of transmitting the gospel to the children in the congregation.
And we encourage by conversation that shows awareness of some of the challenges of being a parent, and by being faithful to our promise, made at baptisms and thanksgivings, to pray for the children. And we try and make our gatherings child and family friendly, whether that is in the architecture – providing a cry room, and rooms for Sunday with lots of glass for safety, or in encouraging patient kindness in us all, in all our dealings with our children, or in nurturing their service as they mature. And we try and make our gathering welcoming and encouraging to parents from the start of their parenting journey by running creche. Getting very young children out the door to church is always an effort, and to then not be able to be encouraged in the service because we are unable to focus on what is being taught can be hard. Creche helps some by giving them that opportunity to focus, while it helps others by giving a space to have conversation with people in the same stage of life, to encourage each other in this stage. And as a congregation we do all this because what is true for parents is also true for us. If we fail to disciple our children how could we think we would obey Jesus’ command in any other context?
And as a congregation we do all this because what is true for parents is also true for us. If we fail to disciple our children how could we think we would obey Jesus’ command in any other context?
I am talking about this because I think awareness of both the privilege we have of passing on the gospel to children and the responsibility we share in encouraging parents in this task is decreasing amongst us. Clarissa always has to work hard to get Sunday School teachers each term, and at 11am we have been unable to build a full creche team so that there are no creche team members one Sunday out of four. There are probably a lot of factors at work here. I think post-covid the sphere of engagement has shrunk for many, revolving more around where they and their own families are at. Many, having emerged from the young childhood years don’t want to go back there. Others are still in those years and just too tired. But creche is important. It is foundational to all we do for children and their families. We may be running a wonderful Sunday School, Kid’s Club and Youth Group [as we are], but if getting to church is hard work for parents with young children and then being at church is difficult because you are as much on the job as you were at home, we are discouraging parents before their children are even eligible for our great ministries. A creche staffed by kind and competent volunteers is encouraging and often the foundation for many people’s impression of our congregations.
So this is an appeal to consider serving in our ministries to children and young people, particularly in creche at 11, even if you don’t go to the 11 o’clock service, if you go to 9am or 5pm. An appeal to those whose children are now older, even grown up. You can probably still remember what it was like to be so tired, and your gratitude for even the smallest break. Serving in creche, and in the other ministries, is an opportunity to love our brothers and sisters who are entrusted by God with children, and with the responsibility of nurturing their children in the faith. Making it easier for them to come to church, and giving them confidence that when they come their children will be cared for and taught the truth, is loving support and encouragement for them in that task. Our Lord said we should love one another as He has loved us and against that standard, His giving His life in His love for us, giving up some of your time to serve in creche or Sunday school does not seem too great a cost to pay. And I guess that is the real goal of this talk. Not getting a full team, though that will be really helpful, but stirring us up to keep on loving each other so that we will be known in our life together as genuine disciples of Jesus.
IF you think you can help, email the office or talk to a pastor on Sunday.
