Travis Lamb, Pastoral Staff–Intern
“The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him” (Proverbs 20:7).
Well, just like that, summer break is over. Some of our kids have already begun, and for many the school year is about to start. There is a nervous electricity that surrounds students just before a new year, and I hope we’ve noticed a particular kind of excitement in the life of the church. Backpacks are packed, classrooms are opening, schedules are filling up, and our children and youth are stepping into another year of growth, learning, friendship, and change. Our own Parent’s Day Out ministry is beginning a new year as well, welcoming some of the youngest children in our church and community. All of this gives us an opportunity to remember something Scripture makes clear: the children among us are not merely the responsibility of their parents. We’ll pray for y’all, and good luck out there. They are a gift entrusted to the whole covenant community.
Psalm 78 says, “We will not hide them (the sayings of old) from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and His might, and the wonders that He has done” (vv. 4–6). God’s design is generational wherein one generation receives the faith and then deliberately hands it to the next. Moses commanded Israel to teach God’s Word diligently to their children (Deuteronomy 6:6–7), and Paul tells older believers to instruct and encourage those who are younger (Titus 2:1–8).
The children laughing and running through our hallways on Sunday morning matter deeply. The teenagers gathering for youth group matter, and their hearts are so alive. The little littles coming through Parent’s Day Out matter as the shoots that could grow into oaks of faith. They need more than events, programs, classrooms, and activities. They need older Christians who know their names, pray for them, encourage them, listen to them, teach them, and show them what a lifetime of faithfulness to Christ looks like. This can be done in myriad ways, from little notes to teaching Sunday school, volunteering for the nursery to actually smiling and saying hello to our kids and youth (most of them don’t bite). If you don’t know what you can do, that’s an easy fix as well. Ask.
Jesus said, “Let the children come to Me; do not hinder them” (Mark 10:14). As another school year begins, may that be one of our great ambitions as a church. We can focus on our 5–year plan so much that we lose sight of the 500–year plan. “Lord, help us place no stumbling block before the next generation, but instead to spend our own selves helping them come to Christ with a living and persevering faith, so that we may one day see them forever laughing and running through the hallways of heaven.”
