Listen to Fritz interview

Home

Mission

The Resolution

Promoting the Resolution

Misconceptions

Other Resolutions

Survey

Meet the Sponsors

Press Room

Donate

The Resolution Says...

Whereas, all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to Jesus, and He has commanded us to make disciples of our children and teach them to observe everything He has commanded (Mt. 28:19-20), and

Analysis

"Go therefore and make disciples of every nation...teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."

If we're to make disciples of every nation, wouldn't it be best if we began in our own home?

There's a lot of confusion surrounding this issue. Some believe that it is the role of our children to be missionaries to a darkened world.

Co-sponsor Bruce Shortt responds,

One critic has suggested that our resolution makes about much sense as withdrawing our missionaries from China because they are surrounded by darkness. I would reply, tongue-in-cheek, that I was unaware that our Mission Board standards allow "missionaries" into the field who still need help cutting their meat and dressing themselves in the morning!

Although the Resolution supports "salt and light" theology properly applied to ADULT Christians working within the public education system, Christ was not speaking to 5-year-olds, 10-year-olds, or 15-year-olds when He gave the Great Commission. Christian adults bear this responsibility, not their children. Nowhere in the Old or New Testament is it remotely suggested that Jews or Christians are permitted to have their children educated in a pagan institution. In fact, the Bible is quite clear that children require nurturing, training, and, yes, even being "set apart for a season." In other words, childhood is a time of discipling.

This is not to say that Christian children cannot be "salt and light" in the sense of setting a Christian example in a manner consistent with their still developing level of maturity. They can visit the elderly in nursing homes; they can involve themselves in community projects; and they can participate in a host of other constructive activities in which they display the Christian character that they are developing. But our children must be given a chance to develop—to grow and be polished. Otherwise, they are likely to fall away.

For anyone who cares to look, there is a great deal of evidence that government schools are converting our children to alien creeds and infusing them with false and destructive values. It should come as no surprise that some humanists regard the destruction of a child's Christian beliefs as what government schools do best. As Paul Blanchard, a well known secular humanist, once observed: "Our schools may not teach Johnny to read properly, but the fact that Johnny is in school until he is 16 tends to lean toward the elimination of religious superstition."