Dear BPCWAians, Last week, we concluded our Holiday Bible Program for students. This year, I decided to have the Holiday Bible Program closely aligned to the theme for our church. The students coming to the class studied on   the theme “I Believe”, taken from 2Tim 3:14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. It is important that we all read this Pastoral so that we all know what we are trying to instil in the children in BPCWA. As parents and individual worshipers, we all have a part to help reinforce the lessons in God’s children.

The reason for the theme. We thank God for giving us a next generation of children in our midst, in the families of our worshippers. We  rejoice when  we see them playing together and building friendships in church with each other. But will these children really fulfill God’s intention for them to be a blessing and spiritual heritage? It depends on how they turn out when they grow up. And that in turn often depends both on how they are taught and their response to God’s Word when they are young. All too often, in all too many churches, we have cases where the children who played together in church are no more in church after they grew up. Many of these ones either departed to compromising churches, or departed from the faith altogether. What happened? What was church to them? What did God’s command mean to them? What had happened to all that they had learned at Sunday school? Ultimately, it boiled down to one thing – a true, personal and unshakable faith. Important as they are, friendships are just a start but it alone cannot keep one to the strait and narrow path. Only genuine faith in God and in His Word can. They must make that personal commitment out of personal convictions from which they will never depart. They must say for themselves – I Believe!

The lessons. There were 4 class groups over the 3 days during the Holiday Bible Program, divided by age groups. This also included a class for the Teens and pre-teens – a critical age where the child begins to form their own value and character for adulthood. The lessons were tailored according to what was appropriate for each age group, though all along the same theme. Believing must always begin with a genuine and personal receiving of the gospel toward salvation, and this was the first lesson. Without this, it is almost certain that they will one day denounce the Christian faith because it was never truly their own faith in the first place. Salvation is not inherited from our parents, nor simply because they are familiar with the Bible stories that they hear week after week. The second day’s lesson was “Is my belief real?”. While our children are young, they will follow where we go, because they have “no choice”. But when Moses “was come to years”, he made a personal choice for himself to obey and follow God. This is the time that should make most parents tremble and fear – left to themselves, what will your children choose? There will come a time in every child’s life that they will have to make their own choices, their own decisions. Truth or error. Right or wrong. Faith or the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. This is when the evidence of their faith will become apparent. Will they be coming only because they are pushed to do so, or because they want to put up with appearances? Parents, know that when your pre-teens and teens reach that age, they are experiencing the new tastes of the world and of independence. Unless their faith has been firmly imprinted into their hearts and they are ready and prepared to battle against the idols that want to come into their lives, they will succumb! The church has limited time with them compared to you. Your own life, personal choices, and convictions while they are young is critical. God is fake to them if they see that God is fake in your own hypocritical lives. In the final lesson, we dealt with “I Believe, I Live!”. The reality of faith is evidenced by how one lives – that is the fruit of faith. Teaching provides the foundation for faith. Faith without works is dead. This is God’s intended process: Biblical teachings → genuine faith → faithful living. It is not do what I say but don’t do what I do. It’s not just about them but about you too as parents and individuals that influence children. It is obeying because I believe that is the right way to walk because that is how God tells me to walk. It isn’t a false show, but a walk that is willing to pay the cost of discipleship. There may be a time when obeying God comes at a cost of better grades, friendships, popularity, advancement in life, and of turning your back on the tantalising temptations of the world. Moses chose to follow God, and left the temporal pleasures of Egypt behind him. He left the comforts of Pharaoh’s palace, the position of being part of the royal family. But he did it readily. Indeed, the true faith is one that would be most miserable if he did not do so.

After the Holiday Bible Program is over… Should we just dismiss it as just another program that has finished? Certainly not. The reason that I am writing this Pastoral is because there is a role for you too. 1) Pray that our own children will have this personal, convicting faith to follow Jesus and not turn back – even if it means that they will have to walk alone in order to follow Christ. Pray that they will not depart when they come to years. 2) Pray that the visiting children will be saved, and return to worship with us. This is important, because as children grow up, their minds may be captivated by other thoughts and desires. Pray that they will keep these lessons of God in their hearts for the rest of their lives. 3) As parents and teachers, be the role model of the walk of faith by your own genuine personal convictions. As a church, all we can do is to run 1 year’s Holiday Bible Program on this topic. But faith must be seen to be real in the eyes of the children. They must see it in their families, and those around them. They must experience the reality of God through living by faith. Perhaps the worst enemy to faith in a child is the parent whose faith isn’t real – who mouths the right things but lives in a manner that is opposed to faith. Parents and teachers must not just teach, but also model the way. Children must be witnesses of the faith of those around them who claim to be Christians. Church worshipers must bear genuine testimonies. These children now have hearts that are tender and ready to hear, learn and follow. We know and we serve a covenantal Lord who will be faithful to help and to hear. But adults, let it not be because of our failing that these ones should be stumbled by our lives. Let us take heed and respond today!

And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. (6)  But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matt 18:5-6).

Yours in our Lord’s service,

Pastor