Sunday, September 9, 2007

YP education

a Jesus thought...
When they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him. (Matthew 2:11)

a Godly thought...
Our mission and our context must determine the selection and the nature of our tools, not the other way around. (p153 Frost & Hirsch)

a leading thought...
If our dream is big enough it will have room for other people in it and consulting them may make good sense. (p121 Harris)

a Dave thought...
Last night I attended a cabaret performance at our YP anniversary where my 5 year old son sang, 'sing, shout, clap your hands, give praise unto your maker' with much enthusiasm. He was so proud to let me know that he was one of the loudest singers and loved being on stage. This is in stark contrast to 2006 which was his first effort in staging and resulted in several bribes prior to the event from his dad and a decent vocal mime while picking his nose.

In contrast to the great teaching Noah receives in primary I also like to take him to the community tea where 80 men and women, many from local boarding houses come for a weekly meal at our church. Here is also a great way to teach values that are important in our children's development. Some have asked whether it is a safe place to bring children to, but I believe it is essential to expose my son to some settings where hurt and lonely people in our community are doing life together.

I love the fact that our children get to learn about God and have a wide range of experiences at church that will continue to shape their journeys. I pray that we will make sure they are not only about performance and the stage but also about life and people. So the YP anniversary is good but YP education is best.

Just a thought.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I personally believe that the overprotection/exclusion of children from some ministry situations is not really helpful. My children have all been exposed to ministry in many forms and this has resulted in young adults who have a compassion and tolerance of people of all backgrounds. It also means that they learn by watching and experiencing, some of my children's best friends are those from margainlized back grounds that they met on the job with us.