Dear BPCWAians, As parents, what do we want to leave our children with? In this concluding Pastoral on the role of the Sunday School in the church, may every parent’s desire be to prayerfully instil God’s wisdom into the hearts of their children, at home and in church.

Focus must be on the Word. Previously, we only used commercially produced Sunday School material. However, the content of the material was often unsatisfactory and at times inaccurate. We began to have to review all the lessons for all the classes and make changes/ comments so that teachers could teach the lessons accurately. Often, these materials also reflected beliefs contrary to the Biblical principles found in our Reformed faith. In more recent years, the influences of the social gospel began to be subtly introduced into some lessons for the older children. Popular but unbiblical theology also crept in. So, I made the decision to introduce the Primary and Junior classes to a series of lessons developed by Calvary Pandan Bible-Presbyterian Church. This will begin in March. Moreover, while Sunday School teachers focus on teaching their assigned lessons every week, questions that children have that are not covered in their classes can be submitted to the Teens Question and Answer forum (conducted on the 2nd and last Sunday of every month after Worship), where I answer their questions.

Focus to help them learn to worship aright. There is a saying that “children will always be children”. Some may feel that we should let our children remain in Sunday School until they are almost young adults. Yet, no parent will want their children to always stay in primary school. Children alike too, should rightly feel embarrassed and awkward if they never seemed to move on or mature. Children must grow to their next stage in church life too. So, we need to teach them to be disciplined and receive the lessons attentively. And students must look forward to progressing on to the next stage. It is natural that teachers may get attached to the students that have been in their class for 2 years. However, I believe that we now have teachers that do rejoice when the children grow and mature on to the next phase of their learning and to finally graduate to join the adult sermon at worship. This is the right attitude, because every level of Sunday School is taught and conducted with one aim in mind – to equip the children with God’s Word while training them to join the adults in the worship of God.

Avoiding irreverent contemporary youth worship styles. Children who are wrongly brought up in Sunday School through lots of action songs, jumping and shouting, fun and games, and allowed to do as they wish, instead of the proper study of Scriptures, will eventually dread sitting through a proper and orderly Worship Service. They will want a separate youth oriented “lively” worship when they graduate out of Sunday School. That is why it is important to inculcate in our children the right habits and ideas about God and worship from a young age. Our aim in Sunday school at every level is to prepare the children to join the adults in the same reverential worship of the Thrice Holy God. Without the right focus, many churches have gone the way whereby they have “Youth Worship” separate from the adults because the youths do not want to be part of “serious adult worship”. Sadly, such contemporary Youth Worships often become the introduction of Contemporary Christian Music to the church, with a watered-down preaching of God’s Word to allow for more carnal “liveliness”. Such contemporary worships are like a pop concert. God gives this privilege of bringing up the next generation of Christians to the parents. And God gives this responsibility to the church to come alongside the parents in the teaching of the children. Both have their roles and accountability. As a church, some decisions may seem to be “strict”, but they must be done with these ends in mind.

I hope these Pastorals have helped you as parents better understand the mutual roles in the training of your children. As a church, we should rejoice with each child that graduates out of Sunday School to join the adults in worship as they grow spiritually into the next level of worship with the adults in their church family. As parents, this is where you must now encourage your children to join and participate in the many other Bible Studies and fellowships that we have in church. Only by continuing the lifelong process of learning God’s Word (even after they finish Sunday School) will our children be able to not remain children in understanding and have true godly wisdom. If children do not continue to learn after they leave the Children Sunday School, they will grow up to be worldly wise, but foolish in God’s sight (Prov 18:2). May this ring in the hearts and prayers of every Christian family as we teach our little ones God’s Word. Let us not fail in our teaching and training of the next generation of worshipers in BPCWA.

Prov 4:3 For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of    my mother. 4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. 5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. 6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keepthee.

Yours in our Lord’s service

Pastor