Commencement: An Alternative to Graduation

 

Sometimes children pay the price for the counter-cultural lifestyle of their parents. Early on in our home education adventure our little non-schoolers had to get used to answering questions like, “Why aren’t you in school today?” Though in those days (when homeschooling was a novelty) fabrications like “teachers meeting” were a tempting response in order to avoid penetrating stares, nowadays the children respond with a nonchalant “We homeschool,” secure in the general acceptance of the practice.

 

Another constant question even now is, “What grade are you in?” For a family that doesn’t follow the convention of grades this requires a little creativity. Our children have learned just to calculate what grade they would be in if they were inmates of the local school and answer with that number. No one ever follows up with more questions once you’ve told them “10th grade” or whatever.

 

Last summer my then-seventeen-year-old daughter Sarah began to be asked a new question (for us), “When are you graduating?” Perhaps knowing my nonchalant attitude toward traditional customs she began to lobby me to think about planning some kind of “graduation” come late spring this year (when, indeed, she would be graduating had she attended school). She knew that I didn’t care for the normal practice of homeschooler graduations in which the graduates don rented caps and gowns and march the aisle of a local church to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” — thus mimicking the very schools they have not used. But she didn’t want to have to answer the newest question with something like, “Well, I’m not actually graduating because my father doesn’t really believe in it, and, yes, you were right to think we homeschoolers are strange and, no, I’m not going on to college, and, well, see my Dad and he’ll explain about our being peculiar people….”

 

So I committed to allowing her to “graduate” this spring so that she could provide an easy answer to “When are you graduating?” All she had to say was, “In May.” Now she fit the system and didn’t have to be an apologist for some neo-paleo-idea of her father’s. But this meant I had to figure out what we were going to do for this “graduation” to which relatives and friends expected invitations. What follows is our family’s thoughts on this matter of graduation in the context of the whole matter of the passage from childhood to adulthood, followed by a summary of what we ended up doing on that special day in May.

 

Total Life Preparation

 

For me, the matter of completing certain academic requirements considered generally as “high school” level is not particularly important. The standards for graduation vary drastically from school to school (and home to home), so it doesn’t mean a whole lot anyway. Beyond that, though, the emphasis on academic achievement is itself a questionable one. Though it is typical of our Greek-influenced culture to emphasize intellectual (and physical) accomplishments, a more Hebrew (biblical) approach would be to stress character and wisdom. The most important questions are not “What is your grade point average?” or “What is your SAT score?” but rather “Are you developing into a Christ-like man or woman?” or “Can you use the knowledge you have gained in some real-life service to God?” Academics are part of preparing for adulthood, but just a part; so marking a nebulous academic passage may not make the most sense.

 

It would make more sense to devise some rite of passage from childhood to adulthood that took account of the need for a total preparation for life. John Thompson has in these pages reported on something he calls “Life Graduation” (Patriarch #14, “College at Home: For the Glory of God”). Basically his idea is that the passage from youth to adulthood should be defined as being adequately trained in every area needed to function as a mature man or woman of God, not just academics.

 

We ought to think in terms of a thorough discipleship process rather than an “education” process. For a child to be well trained and ready for adulthood he must be discipled in each of his key relationships in life: to God, to family, to church, and to the world. This training is accomplished through four essential disciplines: spiritual development, academic studies, life skills training, and creative arts. Let’s look at these more closely. First, the four key relationships.

 

Relationship with God. Our chief aim in raising our children is that they know the living God through faith in Jesus Christ. ” Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). What does it profit our children if they graduate with honors from a reputable school but don’t know the Lord? We must pray for them and teach them and love them in order, by God’s grace, to lead them to salvation and to a walk of holiness in obedience to his will. “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). That is the first lesson our “home schools” should teach.

 

Relationship with family. Far more important than teaching algebra (though we needn’t choose one or the other) is teaching a young person how to properly function in a family. This means training him to honor father and mother (Eph. 6:1-3), but it also means preparing him to be a husband and a father himself (or her a wife and mother). Our children are not prepared for life until they have the training necessary for them to take a spouse and start a family. They need to understand how to love and respect a spouse, how to set up house and budget money, how to bear children and train them. Our culture spends virtually no time preparing youths for the most important earthly callings they will have. Life preparation for Christian families ought not follow in that neglect.

 

Relationship with church. In this New Covenant age church is right alongside family as a priority for Christians. I’m not referring, of course, to the institutional pseudo-church that runs families ragged with activities that supposedly “minister” to those families. I have in mind the people of God gathered under the headship of Christ, with biblical leadership, with teaching from the Word, with the fellowship of the Spirit expressed in the ministry of gifts and in the bonds of fervent love, and with a lifestyle of holiness. There are scores of passages that proclaim our responsibilities to fellow believers (love one another, serve one another, teach one another …). Our children must be trained to take their place within the body of Christ and to join in its mission to disciple the nations and bring Christ to the world.

 

Relationship with the world. God made man, male and female, to multiply in the earth and take dominion over it to the glory of God (Gen. 1:26-28). This is now accomplished through the spread of the gospel and kingdom of Jesus (Matt. 28:18-20). Our families and our churches are the agencies God is using in this enterprise. Our children should be discipled in how to use and develop their God-given abilities to take dominion over God’s creation and spread Christ’s kingdom. It is a large purpose for which Christian parents are preparing their children!

 

Children are discipled to serve in these four key relationships through training in the four basic disciplines. Let’s look at those.

 

Spiritual development. Growing in our walk with God doesn’t just happen, as many of us have found out the hard way. It takes discipline and practice. Parents ought to train their children to have a daily devotional time with the Lord, to study the Bible, to pray. They should teach them how to apply God’s Word to life. They should train them in the development of godly character. Parents who themselves walk with God should take their children on that walk. A Christian youth is not ready for the duties of manhood or womanhood until he or she knows how to abide in Christ day by day.

 

Academic studies. The 3 Rs and all that comes after is a vital part of discipleship. Our children should excel in all the subject areas that are taught in other schools. They should learn all about God’s works in creation and history, which when you think about it covers any academic subject you can name (cf. Ps. 78:4). They should have more, though. They should be able to relate each discipline to God’s Word and his purpose in Christ (v. 5). That is a truly Christian education. “In [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3).

 

Life skills training. Is a young man prepared for life if he has a diploma in hand but can’t fix a light switch or make a simple bookcase? Is a young woman prepared for life if she has her diploma but can’t cook vegetable stew or bake bread? Raising children to be adults includes equipping them with the practical skills they need to live day by day and fulfill their anticipated callings as husbands/fathers and wives/mothers. Taking dominion means having a hands-on acquaintance with God’s creation and being able to utilize and even improve the tools of culture that other men have developed.

 

Creative arts. God’s creation is not only very useful, it is also very beautiful. Enjoying that beauty and re-creating things of beauty is a vital part of what it means to be made in the image of God. Our children are only fully trained when they have learned to both appreciate and incorporate beauty in their everyday lives. Young ladies especially should learn to create homes that reflect a “spirit of loveliness,” but the young men should also be taught that orderliness and attractiveness are created by God and should be mirrored in all our work. Children should also be exposed to and led to participate in the fine arts (music, painting, sculpture, etc.), according to their interests and gifts.

 

Commencement vs. graduation

 

So our vision of what it takes to pass from being a youth to being an adult is rather all-encompassing and makes the mere passing of an academic hurdle rather inconsequential by comparison. But it was this larger vision that I wanted to incorporate in Sarah’s graduation. I decided to call the event a “Commencement” (to borrow another graduation-related term), but it had a new meaning for us. We were marking the commencement of Sarah upon the journey of godly womanhood, having been adequately prepared to take on that role (the term is thus the equivalent of Life Graduation).

 

In her case I decided that she was sufficiently discipled to take this larger step at her now 18 years of age. It may not always be the case that a youth is ready for Commencement at age 18. That is especially so for young men who often need several years of special preparation to be ready to take on the support of a wife and family.

 

It may be most helpful to separate the idea of graduation from high school from that of Commencement as here defined. For the sake of convention (including inquiring relatives and friends) it may be useful to acknowledge the passing of the cultural milestone of finishing “high school” level work (graduation). But the big emphasis would be placed on that moment of passage when a father and mother declared a son or daughter fully prepared to step onto the stage of life as a godly man or woman in their own right and, in particular, ready to take a spouse and set up a home (Commencement).

 

There could be several ways to mark the traditional graduation: a group homeschool ceremony with other homeschoolers in the community or the church, an informal open house in which friends are invited to mark the occasion with the graduate, a more formal home-based ceremony, etc. Then, when appropriate, there could be another event to mark the step of Commencement.

 

I would suggest that we gradually move away from dwelling on “high school” “graduation” at all in favor of concentrating on the truly important step of what we are calling Commencement, the formal entrance onto the path of godly manhood or womanhood. Christian homeschoolers have an opportunity to help shape the culture here. Let’s not just unthinkingly copy what everybody else does. Let’s set a new standard.

 

Our Commencement Ceremony

 

I’ll share with you what we did just to get you started thinking about how an alternative might work. Sarah sent out invitations on some artistic blank-on-the-inside cards on which I had printed the words of invitation on my laser printer. We announced the event as a 2 p.m. ceremony at our house (on a Saturday), followed by an open house until 5 p.m. We put up a rented party tent in our yard across the drive from our house (by God’s grace, we have a wonderful, park-like, four-acre yard) and placed about 90 chairs under it. Pam (my worth-more-than-rubies mate) and Sarah went all out creating a spirit of loveliness in the house and throughout the yards. I contributed to the beauty by placing four speakers outside and wafting the strains of Bach and Vivaldi all over the grounds.

 

The front of the program I created read: “Service to acknowledge the Commencement of Sarah Joyce Lancaster upon the journey of godly womanhood.” Inside was the Order of Service and the words to the hymns we had chosen. Here is the what the ceremony itself consisted of:

 

Welcome. Pretty obvious.

 

Scripture Reading. This was Psalm 67 which I chose because it is the reference I had engraved in Pam’s wedding band (25 years ago — our anniversary was 3 days after Sarah’s Commencement). Sarah is the first of the blessings I had asked for using the words of that Psalm, and she is the first arrow we have prepared (Ps. 127) by which we hope to see fulfilled our prayer: “may your ways be known on earth, your salvation among all nations” (67:2).

 

Hymn. “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” (one of Sarah’s favorites).

 

Prayer. Invocation-like.

 

The Meaning of Commencement. Here I explained what I have written about in this article.

 

Hymn. “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” This is another of Sarah’s favorites; I introduced it as describing the focus of our preparation of our daughter.

 

Recognition of God’s Grace in Sarah’s Life. Here I had Pam come up to help. I would read a couple verses at a time of Proverbs 31:10-31, and after each reading Pam would recount some of the accomplishments the Lord had enabled in Sarah’s life, for example: “provides food” (15) — her cooking and baking; “clothed in scarlet” (21) — her sewing; “wisdom, faithful instruction” (26) — her academic achievements; “fears the Lord” (30) — her years of personal devotions, reading through Scripture, Bible memory, etc.

 

Special Titus 2 Award. Here Sarah and I surprised Pam by giving her a gift as an expression of appreciation for being a Titus 2 Mom who had taught this younger woman and as a reminder of the occasion. It was a “blessing necklace” with little boy and girl charms (with appropriate birthstones) for each of the six children.

 

Declaration and Presentation. I read a diploma-like page and handed the ribbon-tied copy to Sarah. It read:

 

Declaration and Commendation: Be it known that Sarah Joyce Lancaster, having completed a program composed of academic studies, life skills training, and creativity, and having been thoroughly discipled in her relationship with God, family, church, and world, is hereby prepared to commence upon the journey of godly womanhood. She is commended to the Body of Christ as a woman “of noble character … who fears the Lord.” (Prov. 31) Affirmed by the undersigned, her parents, this 31st day of May, the year of our Lord 1997.

 

Pam and I had signed her copy.

 

Father’s Prayer and Blessing. I thanked God for his work in Sarah and prayed about her future as a godly woman. Then I laid my hands on her and pronounced a blessing based on Num. 6:24-26 and Heb. 13:20,21.

 

Encouragement from the Church. Several men offered some brief words of encouragement to Sarah from the Scripture and their experience with the Lord. I had let the men know in advance of this opportunity.

 

Hymn. “Now Thank We All Our God.” Fitting words with which to conclude.

 

Dismissal. After this we served lots of homemade finger foods and a wonderful sweet tea punch (the recipe came from some friends in Texas). People sat inside or out, or strolled around the grounds enjoying the fellowship and music. All in all, a totally memorable day.

 

Just to give you another quick example: Our Texas friends recently faced the “graduation” milestone with one of their boys. They decided to have “A Blessing” instead of the cap and gown ceremony. They invited 70 friends and family to an evening graduation open house. After food and visiting they called the people together for a little ceremony in which the Dad introduced the Mom as the chief teacher; she gave her personal reflections on her son. The son then systematically expressed his thanks to all who had helped shaped his life, many of whom were present. Then the father explained the biblical concept of blessing (many present were not familiar with this), referring to Genesis 27, 48, and 49, and read a carefully prepared Blessing for the son, which included references to the son’s character and accomplishments, after which he prayed for him. It was a very warm, personal time which was a powerful testimony to those present about the loving family bonds that reached the heart of this son.

 

Conclusion

 

As we draw toward a close, let me emphasize my main concerns in writing this article.

 

First, aim to prepare children fully for life. That preparation takes a lot more than teaching school subjects. It involves assuring that they are mature, completely prepared to leave our home and set up their own and to otherwise take on an adult role in church and society.

 

Second, don’t just copy the patterns dictated by the popular culture. It makes sense for schools to have graduations; it marks the termination of that academic program which bound a particular group of people together in a common pursuit. But home educators have chosen another paradigm entirely. We don’t need to do “school” and we don’t need “graduations”. It’s OK to do both, but you are free to do neither. Why copy the ceremonies of mass, institutional schooling?

 

Third, be creative with alternative rites of passage. We have the opportunity for a wholly different kind of training, discipleship rooted in relationship and designed to reach the heart. We also have the chance to create new rites of passage. Let’s be inventive and come up with some that reflect who we are as unique families. Yours won’t look just like mine, nor should it. Express your family in a way that fits you.

 





Educating Children – Whose Job Is It?

home schooling parents responsible for educating children

According to the Bible, whose responsibility is it to educate children:

  • the government’s job?
  • the local church’s job?
  • the parent’s job?

The government wants to teach children secular humanism, sex education, so-called safe sex, alternative lifestyles, evolution, situational ethics, and contemporary views on the roles of men and women. The local church usually wants to segregate people by age and wants to make sure that their programs are worldly enough so that they are not boring.

 

Who is more truly concerned about your children’s spiritual welfare than you? Hopefully no one, other than the Lord.

 

Reasons why parents alone should educate their children:

 

1. It is biblical.

 

The Bible makes it very clear that parents are the ones who are to teach their children. This not only insures that the children will get a Christian education but an education that will train them for all areas of life, as they observe their parents throughout the day, every day. Rather than learning the values of some stranger and some heathen (i.e. the average public school teacher) they will learn the values of their parents. This makes it all the more imperative that their parents be the best role models possible, and that they model Christ as best as they can. Keep in mind that by spending such a tremendous amount of time with your children you will have an opportunity to form relationships with them that would not be possible if they were sent off to school every day and spent that time with someone else. Here are some verses from Proverbs that highlight the need and the importance for parents to teach their children…

 

Proverbs 22:6 – Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

 

Proverbs 23:26 – My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

 

Proverbs 1:8 – My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

 

Proverbs 4:1 – Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

 

Proverbs 13:1 – A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.

 

Proverbs 7:1 – My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.

 

We see also in Deuteronomy how important it is for children to be in a home-based, family-centered teaching environment throughout the day:

 

Deuteronomy 11:18-21 – Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

 

Notice that parents are to teach their children continually throughout the day – “when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up”. A parent’s job is not just to feed and cloth a child. The Bible states that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4). Certainly almost all Christian parents are capable of teaching the Word of God (verbally and by example) to their children and such instruction is a large part of educating Christian kids. The problem that may be in the back of the minds of many Christian parents is that they know that if they are to adequately train their children, then they themselves will have to get educated in areas that they may not have diligently studied. The consequences of parents being put into a position where they have no choice but to become better educated Christians is good news for the local church because…

 

THE BYPRODUCT OF HOME EDUCATED CHRISTIAN CHILDREN IS BETTER EQUIPPED CHRISTIAN PARENTS AND A LOCAL CHURCH THAT IS HEALTHIER SPIRITUALLY.

 

2. Negative peer pressure needs to be avoided.

 

Learning to stay away from vipers and alligators is far better than trying to learn how to handle them and we see this philosophy stated in scripture:

 

2 Timothy 2:22 – Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

 

Proverbs 4:14 – Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. 15 Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.

 

Proverbs 19:27 – Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.

 

Proverbs 28:7 – Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father.

 

3. It is wrong to have double standards.

 

They Bible warns us about false teachers and false gospels and tells us to take note of them and avoid them:

 

Jeremiah 10:2 – Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

 

Romans 16:17 – Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

 

Ephesians 5:11 – And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

 

2 Corinthians 6:14 – Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

 

If believers are commanded to avoid false gospels and false doctrines, why would we send our children to schools that promote such things? Do we want to follow the bad example of king Ahaz?…

 

2 Kings 16:3 – But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.

 

Sending an impressionable young mind to a public school nowadays is not too different from what king Ahaz did.

 

4. Children need to be disciplined and disciplined promptly.

 

Parents rarely expect the local church or the public school to discipline their children on a regular basis, especially according to biblical guidelines. Yet why do they expect the church and the government to educate their children? Part of the biblical education and training of children is the requirement that parents administer discipline as noted in these verses that refer to “thy son” and “his son”:

 

Proverbs 19:18 – Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

 

Proverbs 29:17 – Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

 

Proverbs 13:24 – He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

 

5. Children need clear-cut guidance, not mixed messages.

 

We get a good picture of hypocrisy from the following verse. It is a picture that we should hope would never apply to us…

 

Matthew 23:3 – All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

 

We should never want our children to get the idea that money, our job, our time or anything else is more important than teaching them to grow up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. After all, we are teaching them how to be future parents. When parents send a child off to school be it public or “Christian”, and then tell the child that what they are learning is biblically wrong, that child is getting a mixed message from their parents. They are liable to wonder why they are being sent somewhere where the teaching disagrees with their parents teaching and beliefs. Instead of trying to get kids to unlearn what they are learning incorrectly from some school, shouldn’t parents teach them correctly right from the start by doing the teaching themselves? Also, how is a child to respond to secular “testing”? By parrotting lies back to their teachers for a good grade or by answering in truth?

 

6. Good children don’t happen by accident.

 

Like seeds planted in a garden, children need to be nurtured, cultivated, weeded, watered, and fertilized. We are taking a huge risk with precious souls when we entrust the welfare of our children to others. The biblical law of reaping and sowing says that if we sow to the wind we reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7) but when we sow unto righteousness we reap mercy (Hos 10:12). We should have no regrets for making our children’s spiritual welfare our own day-to-day concern as we personally raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Perhaps if more Christian parents looked at raising their children as their primary ministry, it would be a lot easier to tell the Christian children from the children of the world… and maybe there would be more peace in the home:

 

Proverbs 3:1-2 – My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

 

Very real and serious threats exist to our children’s welfare

 

Obviously no parent would give their child a snake bite kit and then send them into a pit of cobras OR would give them a box of Band-Aids and then send them into a lion’s den. And yet, spiritually speaking, there is not much difference in sending children off to school somewhere where their parents are not around to supervise what is being taught. We need to be realistic about how dangerous a society we live in today. Never mind the public schools… the Christian schools are certainly not free of incompetents, liberals, child molesters and just plain biblically ignorant teachers. It is a regrettable situation but all too true.

 

Common stumbling blocks for parents: not enough time & not qualified

 

1. Not enough time

 

Many parents think that they don’t have time to tackle the task of educating their children themselves. Do they have time to undo the damage? If we send our kids to someone else for their education we are still ultimately responsible for finding out what they were taught, for correcting error they learned, and for teaching things that were just not taught (biblical principles, how to be a future spouse, future parent, future Christian). It can be helpful and encouraging to talk to parents who have been home schooling for many years and find out if they think that their investment in time was worth whatever sacrifices they had to make. We should find out how they budgeted the time into their daily schedules. Perhaps one parent had to leave the work force. Perhaps another parent had to turn down promotions to be able to leave work at a decent hour. Perhaps the family started a business and worked towards becoming self-sufficient to have more control over their lives. Perhaps some families had to adjust their lifestyles – probably to a more godly one, anyway – to fit the requirements of properly raising a child. This may mean living a less materialistic life (to eliminate the need for a second job), no TV (Isn’t TV a form of secular education?), and spending more time in biblical study and family worship.

 

2. Not qualified

 

Who is more qualified than you to raise your children? Do you think the government shares many of your concerns about what your children are exposed to or what you think about God and the Bible? Even the local Christian school is not going to know exactly what all your priorities are and concerns are with respect to educating and disciplining your children.

 

Quality help is available

 

Do you know that there are some excellent resources available to parents today to greatly simplify the task of teaching children at home? Many home-schooling ministries are accessible on the Internet and through the mail nowadays. They offer excellent teaching materials including computer aided instruction, workbooks, textbooks and even support groups.

 

Click HERE to see some home-school ministries and suppliers of teaching materials you may wish to investigate.

 

Children’s Church

 

The idea of “children’s” church is unscriptural and should be avoided. The Bible does not teach that children should be separated from their parents during a church meeting and neither does it teach that they should be segregated by age. Children belong with their parents while their parents worship the Lord. If a parent is not directly doing the teaching, they should at least be overseeing what is being taught to their children.

 

When a child sees their parents bowing in prayer or singing praises to the Heavenly Father, the child will be more apt to realize that there is a higher authority than their mother and father and they will be more apt to learn, by example from their parents, how to behave in church. Having the children in the midst of the congregation, for all to see, will also give parents an incentive for raising well-behaved children. In addition, God is the one who gives the spiritual understanding, not the intellectual ability of the child, so there is no reason to believe that a regular church service will be of lesser spiritual value to a child than some kind of children’s church. One final point: the focus of coming to church Sunday mornings – for both children and parents – should be to worship the Lord as a collective and complete body.

 

Food for thought:

 

God commands parents, not someone else, to train up their children. It also commands each believer to make disciples. Whose job is it really to make disciples of our children? Is it not an honor and a privilege to make disciples of our own children?

 

To get the proper biblical perspective, we should ask ourselves if we think we can really give God a satisfactory biblical reason for abdicating our responsibility to train up our children ourselves.

 

Regarding public schooling in particular, it is a very serious thing to give that which is holy (our children – 1Cor 7:14) to the dogs (the unsaved and ungodly – Php 3:2)… “And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.” [Mark 9:42]

 

May God help us all to do what is right and to make the sacrifices necessary to raise children God’s way. May the local church provide the support necessary for us to accomplish that which God has commissioned us to do. We must not forget that God knows what is best. As with all sound investments, there are wonderful rewards to be reaped from investing our time and energy into raising future men and women of God.

 

“Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.” [Prov 4:10-13]