Teaching Tuesday #2
I know that many of you who keep up with All Things New are wondering what is going on with the new truck we are hoping to purchase soon. Yesterday was the last day for donations and today we are in the process of seeing where we are and what our next step should be. Once we know what’s going on next, we will let you know, and thanks again for helping us purchase a much needed vehicle (on a sidenote, the a/c in the black truck went out last night).
For Teaching Tuesday today, I wanted to share with you some of what we have been doing with the kids in our nightly service. This will not really be a “teaching” blog like the title would suggest, but it will give you a little glimpse into what we do with our kids. Last week, I started leading the kids through the book of James. We are going just a couple of verses at a time and discussing what the verses say. At the same time, I am asking them some questions about each passage to see if they are really understanding what they are reading and to see how deep they can go into some of the texts. I am also giving them “homework” some nights where I ask them a question that they are supposed to find the answer to prior to the next evening’s service. As you can imagine, some of them are really loving this and some of them hear the question and immediately forget about it. The truth is, this Bible Study time is going really well so far and I hope that it keeps up. Here are some of the questions that we have asked recently for homework:
- From James 1:1, who are the 12 families mentioned (the creole uses the word “family” rather than “tribes”)?
- Who did GOD give permission to ask for anything he wanted and what did he ask for?
- What is the word for “wisdom” in Greek and whose name in this house is very similar to that Greek word?
- Why is Jesus in the family line of Judah rather than any of Judah’s 3 older brothers (Reuben, Simeon, or Levi)?
I think I may have stumped them with this last question. I also have explained to them why I enjoy teaching through books of the Bible rather than teaching topically (and I would say the same thing about preaching). I told them that when I teach through a book or section of a book, then it is much easier to be sure that I am teaching the Word of GOD rather than using the Word of GOD to say what I want to say. I am not sure that they agreed with me because I have never been to a church here where the pastor was preaching through a book of the Bible (admittedly I have only been to a few churches on a consistent basis) but I think they got my point.
Anyway, the bottom line is that we are trying to use service to teach our kids the Word of GOD. I started thinking about all of the different teachings and philosophies out there that have taken the Bible out of context and made it say things that it never meant to say. The truth is, it is scary to think about how easy it would be for our kids to be swept away by one of these bad teachings. The prosperity gospel is alive and well here and I cannot imagine how a poor person reacts to this type of teaching. We recently had one of our older boys ask us why it is important to go to church and he told us that he did not think he should have to because he already loves GOD. How prevalent is that type of teaching even though it does not make any sense that Jesus would call us to follow Him apart from His own local body of believers. Even locally held beliefs (by some Christians) in things like having to be dressed in your best clothes to be allowed in church, the idea that Christians cannot wear nail polish, and other petty things that are added to the Bible need to be fought against. Much less the prevalence of some voodoo beliefs that get mixed in with followers of Christ. It is our job to teach our children what the Bible says because it is the thing that leads us to Christ. Please pray for us as we lead our children to know Christ more every day.