From John Alley:
We were not smart enough to close down our Sunday School on purpose. It closed down when we were not noticing, and not really thinking about it at all.We had given up our church property because, at the time, we had left the denomination to reach out for a new future to which the Lord was directing us. ...
In one sense we stepped out into the unknown – having no property meant no program, and for a long time, aside from our cells, the church simply met on Sunday mornings in public rented accommodation.
At first we could not find a place available for every Sunday, so for 6 to 12 months we were constantly meeting somewhere different each week. A school hall, a municipal facility, a hotel conference room, and on a few occasions in the botanical Gardens.It was thrilling enough, there was purpose in it all. And the Lord told us that the reason he had taken away every outward form of success we had was……so that we could concentrate on achieving success in the single most important thing, which was, relational intimacy with God and with each other. I told the church: there is nothing for you to do from one Sunday to the next -- no lawns to mow, no gardens to keep, no program to run, no Sunday School to teach -- only one job remains. Walk with God and with each other all week long, and then we will meet again next Sunday.
Because we were in public rented halls, there was no Sunday School because rooms were not available. So we just had a good happy Sunday morning. We sang, we shared, we listened to the Lord, we fellowshipped and we loved each other all the more.
And all the while, our children were with us.It was during this time that we experienced wonderful breakthroughs. We seemed to turn one corner after another, learning lessons and having victories. At one stage I listed 12 victories or breakthroughs in one 2-week period. And we broke a huge demonic power that had been against us for over 6 years – a principality, the Spirit of Division.
And within seven months of leaving the denomination, and "going out and looking for our place" in Abraham-like fashion, we had an unprecedented breakthrough at a family camp retreat one weekend. At that camp we had the most astounding meetings we have ever had. We had believed that we were to purposely plan no preaching and very little singing, and the Holy Spirit came and took over the meetings with great power, and miraculous signs we came into such a depth of personal sharing that from that time we did not seat ourselves in rows all facing the front, but turned the chairs whereby we faced each other for church meetings as we have ever since.
A lot was happening in our lives.All the while, we did not think much about not having a Sunday School. Had we understood the advantages, we might have closed it down years earlier; but here's what happened. Our children were now with their parents all the way through our rather long meetings. And without us thinking much about it, they were now participants in the main life of the people of God, whereas before, after a few songs, they had always been sent out.
Now every week they saw their parents giving, heard adults testifying, overheard church vision, and sat under the anointed apostolic preaching of the word of God. They were there for the ministry times and saw the healings and deliverances; they heard of people’s needs and became aware of a God who answers.No longer were they being shuffled off to a secondary program, which more often than not was only glorified child-minding.
So often, parents believe the lie that children are bored in church but that somehow, mysteriously and miraculously, Sunday School is less boring. But we used to have behaviour problems in Sunday School that we never have in church.
And some parents might argue that the messages of the ‘senior’ church are not for children: that they don't understand them, don't listen to them, are bored by them! We found all that to be a lie.We don't expect children in a church meeting to hear and understand every word spoken, just as adults don't. In fact our littlest ones often sit on the floor and colour-in. But a child only has to hear one little phrase, even while he thinks he is not listening, and he goes home with truth in his soul. You might think he or she is not listening and learning, but actually they are surrounded by a lifestyle and culture from which they learn the most valuable lessons in life. I have been astounded at the truth that my 6 and 8 year olds have spoken of at home – and when I asked them “Where did you learn that?” they replied, “Oh, I heard it in church one day”.
Children must see with their very own eyes what their parents say they love and highly value: the word of God, worship, prayer, and their spiritual leaders. They must see the respect, awe, submission and devotion of their parents and of all the adult believing community. In this way they grow up in community, and are far more likely to have learned the truth, and ultimately to walk in it with passion.
Please understand, I have no objection to there being separate classes for children, and special programs for our young people. Just don't do that one foolish thing that we have all been doing now for years, and that is; don't take the children away from their parents when the parents are worshipping God. If you do, you are saying to the children "This is not important for you", "This does not concern you", "This would be boring for you", "You have other things you can do rather than be in church". See how foolish we have been? The main life of a worshipping community must be mainstream for our children too.
Now here we are, more than six years after the Lord, without asking us, took away our Sunday School. I thank God. He has done us good. Our children are more mature, more spiritually aware, and remarkably well-behaved.
We have many small children and lots of babies. One year we had 22 babies born in our church, and last year we had six or seven. Back in the days when we had Sunday School, often the sound of crying babies and other noises from children would be heard during meetings, and that was in a heavily carpeted building designed to dull such noises. Today we worship in much more basic premises, but now we hardly ever hear a baby crying, and we rarely have the noise of children disturbing the meetings. It is a grace.
God has given us a great gift, for our children are with us.And how they love to participate in offerings! We have taught our children to tithe and give generously, and they run to throw their offerings into the baskets. It is a great joy, and church life is good.
We had a pastor visiting us from Victoria, sitting in the congregation for just one Sunday. But he saw it, and went home, closed down his Sunday School, and even dismantled the Sunday school partitions that had been built in his church. He later said something like: "We have been crazy. On Sunday morning we would sing for 15 minutes, and then we would send out the children, and the youth, and also send out our best people to teach and to take care of them all, and" he said "all I was left with was a small part of the church, while most of my leaders and best people were not even there when I was teaching."
Just one closing word: I have eight children, four of them now adults, and all of them are in Christ and in the ministry with us. The younger four range in age from 15 to 8 years, and all of them are really with us in the Lord. They read the Scriptures, and pray with us, every day. They are in Christ. I know something about raising children, and my wife Hazel and I have successfully raised them for Christ.
Here is what I want to say: I have observed over many years that children mainly get their attitudes from their parents.If a child is bored and says so with an 'attitude', this is a learned behaviour. More often than not it has come from his parents, and his parents should have taught a different behaviour. Years ago we banned the word ‘bored’ from our family. None of our children were ever allowed to use this word, and like the sound of a hammer in Solomon's Temple, the sound of this word was never, ever to be used in our home or by any of our family members. And the result? We never had bored children. Not just because they weren't allowed to use the word, but because they had been taught a different attitude.
Often our young children travel with us long distances -- we will drive three days across half of Australia, and then they will sit with us in three or four days of meetings, and then we will drive three days home. Sometimes we do these conferences back-to-back and there might be seven days of meetings sandwiched with seven days, full days, of sitting in cars. We have never had a complaint. The children are happy and cheerful. Why? Because, properly led, children always get their attitudes from their parents.I remember after a trip of only one day, we arrived to be greeted by a pastor. He began to speak as if commiserating with our children: “Oh, you must have been bored stuck in that car for such a long day”. I immediately corrected him, for my children’s sake. We had had a good day, they were happy, and I did not need anyone to inadvertently feed my children negative attitudes and belief systems.If a child says he is bored in church, it is usually because his parents have introduced him to this concept. But should a child in their formative years somehow pick up this attitude from outside the family, the parents must quickly correct the attitude.Teach your children to stand up and worship God -- teach them to sing and to pray. Teach them to love, revere and submit to the holy Scriptures. It will pay a huge reward.
Some parents struggle between two extremes: whether to let children make their own decisions about church, or whether to make them do the right thing spiritually. Let me tell you, in their formative years, you must take charge. If they do not want to do what is right, you instruct them, correct them, teach them, discipline them, and command them when necessary. You do already command them to go to school. Very well then, command them to stand up and worship God. Most children do not need too much hard work in this department, but if you do have a problem, in the long run you will have much less of a problem if you have to command them to do the right thing than if you let them do their own thing. Don't be deceived.
In the wonderful love of Christ, John Alley.
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