The Joy of Little Kids...

My sister (aged 20) - "Can someone tell me how to use the shower?"

My foster sister (aged 3, just) - "I caaaaaaaaan!"

Brilliant.

(She can't, just to confirm).

Home Schooling: A Challenge From Church History, A Challenge From The Catholics.

Over the past 50 or so years, public schooling has increased dramatically.  Now, all children in Western society are put through school, normally for the large majority of their first 20 years or more.  The government has been the supplier of that education.

The government has also been secular - distinctly non-Christian.

Thus we have the challenge presented to my Modern Church class this afternoon.  Why are Christians still allowing their children to go through the secular education system?

Proverbs 21 says that if you teach a child to walk in the direction of the Lord they won't stray when they grow up.  Why do we as Christians not assume the opposite is also true?  If we allow our children to be taught and brought up in the way of rabid materialism, individualism and secularism - are we surprised that many do not follow Christ when they grow up?

Throughout history the church has been proponents of education.  And in many ways this hasn't changed, but it has simply left the hand of the church and moved into the government's hands, who seem only to be concerned with producing a new workforce, so that capitalism can continue.  

The statistics - 2% of children under 18 go to church, and 87% of that 2% go with their families. Which means that only 0.2% of all children under 18 years old go to church on their own, with no inherent background helping them.  The claim from my lecturer was that this would change if Christians took back the educating of their children.  

The Catholics seem to have this right, they still have their educational presence in Britain today, and they are still the biggest church in the world - and still the fastest growing.

Quite a challenge.  One I am thinking through, because it isn't always as easy as homeschooling, though it may be the ideal.

"No matter how much we love theology - it will never love us back."

I have been reminded again and again this week that theology is not the end.

It is a means to understanding what my relationship with Christ is all about.  But at the end of the day, it is relationship.

The title is a quote from Mark Allen Powell (quoted by Scot McKnight in 'The Jesus Creed').  It has summed up what I've been reminded of this week.

All the knowledge in the world will not save you from anything.  Only relationship with Christ can change, save, redeem.