How Children Form Spiritually and Who Needs to be Leading that Process
There is no hiding from our culture. It’s knocking on the doors of our churches, homes, and our schools. The government has laid out a clear academic plan for what they want children to learn at every grade level and too often, at home and church, we are left to tack on Christian activities later.
In our latest Clearly Christian podcast, I talk with Dr. Phil Leineweber, an associate pastor at Berean Baptist Church here in Mansfield, Ohio. We dive deep into these critical topics, offering profound insights and practical advice for educators, parents, and church leaders.
You can watch it here on YouTube, or catch this and all past episodes at clearlychristianeducation.com
The issue is both clear and difficult. Our “Chalkboard Points” start the conversation:
Chalkboard Point #1: Every day, someone is shaping how your child sees the world
Teachers, friends, social media, etc., someone is pointing your child in a specific direction and your children are watching and changing.
Chalkboard Point #2: Lack of biblical worldview disconnects Generation Z from the faith.
Generation Z is not being equipped to understand and navigate today’s culture. They don't have an anchor to help them.
The Challenges of Spiritual Formation
Dr. Leineweber says the issue is a repeating cycle. “What we're seeing now is you have millennials raising their children, which is my generation, and they have no sense of biblical literacy.” He goes on to include their lack of a biblical worldview. “And now they're trying to raise their kids. And even well-meaning Christian millennials don't know how to form a Christian worldview in the lives of their children. And so those parents need help in that endeavor.”
We highlight the need for schools to create environments that foster trust, relationship-based discipleship, and a strong sense of community. At Mansfield Christian School, for instance, we created the Student Discipleship Plan. It's a formal documentation of the process by which children mature spiritually from salvation through discipleship, through carefully laid out “spiritual markers”. These markers are Respect, Wisdom, Grace, Trust, and Perspective. And it’s not likely those are being taught in public schools.
The Educational Factory
Dr. Phil and I then discussed the way students learn, and how the centuries-old model has stifled real learning and the potential for discipleship. I get a little fired up about this, but that’s ok because it is important.
“We were designed on the factory model, an outdated European factory model, hundreds of years ago, where we move kids along this K -12 process”, is the point I make in the podcast, “And we move them like they're on an assembly line.” I see this happening in public schools, where 2nd graders learn second-grade things and then get moved on to learn third-grade things. This is not how kids learn.
The Discipleship Crisis
Dr. Leineweber goes on to discuss how parents must intentionally guide their children’s spiritual development and the importance of modeling a Christ-centered life. It has to be a community that does this, as it won’t be found in society. “Our society is especially and insidiously faith-repellent,” says Dr. Leineweber. ”It's not just a neutral territory. It's a toxic territory that kills faith and kills this idea of Christian truth”. Dr.Leineweber goes on to say that God's grace in our country can't be assumed anymore. “You know, we just assume that everyone prays, that everyone goes to church. And those assumptions have to be removed”.
Tune in to this episode if you are interested in the spiritual formation of children, whether you’re a parent, educator, or church leader. If you agree with me that the only way we're going to turn things around in this country, in your home and church and otherwise, is to increase the number of people who live and operate every day with a biblical worldview. And the greatest hope to achieve that mission is indeed Christian education, either in the home or at a Christian school.
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For more information about Dr. Cy Smith and the Clearly Christian Education movement, click on ClearlyChristianEducation.com.
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