A long time ago my piano teacher organized
her students into something called a junior music club, and one year I
served as president. Because we students were members of this club, we
were eligible to participate in several special events and recitals,
including something called “the Festival” where our performances were
rated by a judge, who also gave helpful comments and encouragement.
Twenty years later I joined a local chapter
of the Florida Federation of Music Clubs and eventually attended one of
their State Conventions. As I watched, listened and learned, all the
pieces began to click into place.
FFMC is a group of “senior clubs.” Unlike a
professional organization, parents of students and music lovers in the
community are allowed to join, along with the independent music
teachers, which greatly increases your volunteer pool as you try to
spread the love and appreciation of music and support music education in
your communities.
Each teacher in the local senior group was
supposed to organize her students into a junior club. My teacher, whom
I later discovered had been a State President of FFMC, did exactly
that. Here is the genius of that plan—you are growing your own
replacements, teaching them what the organization is about, making them
as useful as possible in whatever capacity they can manage at their
various ages.
Unfortunately, few teachers did anything
more than put their students’ names on a roster so they could take
advantage of the privileges of membership. Responsibility was never
taught. And worse, the senior division, all the way to state level, did
not use their younger members, even though they held “state elections.”
My son Nathan, who was also my student, was elected state president of
the junior division in his senior year of high school, but I had to
suggest, recommend, and finally push for him and his fellow officers to
be used as real members. No one had ever thought of that, which is
probably why I did not at first recognize FFMC years later. No one had
taught me the ropes. As a student I was a member in name only.
The same thing happens in the church. We
look at our young people and call them “the future of the church,” and
then sit back and assume that someday in that future they will “grow up
in all things unto him” (Eph 4:15).
Here is the problem: We treat baptism like
flea dip for our dogs. We get our children wet and say, "Whew! Got rid
of all those sins, now they're safe." But Romans tells us that when we
are baptized, we are raised to walk a new life. Something has changed.
Do they know that? Can young children even articulate what needs to
change about themselves?
Jesus says you don’t make a commitment to
Him until you count the cost. Have we helped them count the cost of
discipleship to the Lord?
Colossians tells us that we are raised from
baptism to "walk with him." "Walk" means a lifetime not a moment. Are
they old enough to even comprehend that sort of commitment?
1 Corinthians 12 says baptism makes them
“members of the body” (I Cor 12:13). If they aren’t ready to be
working members, committed servants who put others before themselves,
then they aren’t ready to be baptized.
If all we teach them is that they must be
baptized or they can't go to Heaven, all we have done is terrorize them,
and shame on us. It is simple to indoctrinate a child well before he is
able to count the cost of changing his life, make a lifetime commitment
and actually begin serving. The New Testament knows nothing of junior
members in the church; babes, yes, but even babes participate in
on-the-job training, and most of the "babes" we see in the New Testament
are physically adults. This is the point: Either they are members or
they aren't according to Corinthians. Consider the following.
A working member does more than read the
Scripture and pass the plates. For one thing, what about the young
ladies? These young people may not have the deep knowledge and wisdom
to participate in every aspect of the work, but they should all be able
to serve the Lord’s body. Teach them how and expect it of them. Or
else do not baptize them.
Take them visiting with you—the sick, the
lonely widows, even the bereaved. If you don’t think your child can
handle that, then think again about whether he was really mature enough
to commit. Have them help clean the houses and do the yard work for
those who no longer can. Keith had a stroke one year in the middle of
leaf season. Half a dozen young high school men came to our home—a
thirty mile drive—and raked all morning. Another group helped unpack
when my mother moved, and another helped clean. They were thrilled to
help, returning to me again and again with, “What should I do now?”
These young people are obviously ready to serve.
Teach them to take responsibility for their
own Bible study. That’s what a committed disciple does. Expect them to
not only do their class lessons without being told, but to develop
personal study habits. If you always have to remind them, are they
really as devoted to the Lord as their baptism should have shown them to
be? If you are making excuses, especially in regard to their age, then
once again you may be admitting that all you did was scare your child to
death, not make them dedicated disciples.
Take them to the extra Bible studies with
you. I do run a Tuesday morning Bible class for the women, but I also
hold one on the third Sunday afternoon of the month for those who have
secular jobs or other daytime commitments—like high school and college.
I have had teenagers as young as sixteen take part. They do their
lessons and comment almost as freely as the older women.
Turning your baptized offspring into
working members will also do this for you—if I expect to teach my child
what it means to be a member of the Lord’s body, I need to be showing
them how myself. Nothing made me a better Christian than having that
red, wrinkled, squirming infant placed in my arms. The same thing
should happen when your child becomes a babe in Christ.
And speaking of babies, do you know why we
have adult infants in the church? Because we scared the innocent to
death instead of teaching them early enough about conversion, service,
and commitment. There may be no better way to ensure the demise of the
body of Christ than turning it over to the coddled who were taught that
baptism was only about escaping Hell.
Don’t call your young people by that
unscriptural term, “the future of the church.” Either they are members
of the body or they are not. Prepare them. As the old saying goes, the
future is now.
For in one Spirit were we all baptized into
one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all
made to drink of one Spirit. 1Cor 12:13
And all that believed were together, and had
all things common; and they sold their possessions and goods, and parted
them to all, according as any man had need. And day by day, continuing
steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home,
they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising
God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them
day by day those that were saved. Acts 2:44-47
Other Articles
Will Heaven be on
Earth?
Division Must Come
Baptist Questions Given Bible Answers
The Temple of Great Price
Said the Farmer to the Fruit Tree
Worship's Emotional Component
Keep Yourself Unspotted From the World
Why I Pray
- Caffin,
B.C. (1950), II Peter – Pulpit Commentary, H.D.M. Spence
and Joseph Exell, eds. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans).
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