Page 64 - The Church and Education PDF Pro

Since this command is given to parents, how is the church involved in the process? Remember, at the
beginning of this study, we learned that Israel was a type of the church in the Old Testament? Israel was
called out from the nations to represent God to them. In the same way, the church is “called out” to
represent Christ to the nations. And in Deut. 6, the pathway to continuing the righteousness of the
Jewish nation was through education; through teaching God’s Word and God’s ways to children. In the
same send, the pathway to continuing passing down godliness through the generations of the church
comes through the church’s involvement and partnership with parents in teaching children God’s ways.
Today, this is called Christian Education.

Although the term Christian education does not occur in the Bible, the Bible speaks of the moral and
spiritual instruction of believers in general and of children in particular. It places a high value upon
knowledge, both of God and of His works. It describes the moral and spiritual fruits of this knowledge
and defines its ultimate purpose.

2 Tim. 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be
ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

One of the purposes for the church is to be involved in disciplining others. This involves teaching people
about the truths of God’s Word that they may grow in their spiritual walk of obedience to Christ’s
commands. Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, was disappointed that after so much time, they were still
not able to handle the meat of God’s Word, but were still drinking only the milk of God’s Word,
therefore not maturing in their faith (I Cor. 3:1-7). Maturity comes through the process of education
and application in God’s Word. And this task is assigned to parents and to the church.

The ultimate goal in education is that a student becomes like Christ! The process is a continual directing
of the process of human development toward God’s objectives for man: godliness of character and
action (becoming like Christ).

2 Tim. 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training
in righteousness, 17so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Notice the pathway to equipping is through teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training. These are all an
integral part of the education process.

Of course, for a person to become like Christ, he must first know Him through regeneration. Just as
general education begins at physical birth, Christian education begins with spiritual rebirth. Salvation
brings a new understanding to the mind of the student and an opportunity to mold and guide his life in
submission to God’s will. But growth toward godliness is a step by step process and takes time. That is
what Christian education is all about: the incremental steps from infancy to maturity.

In the Bible, God has commanded two institutions to educate: the home and the church. The home
becomes a foundation and the church comes along side and assists the home to fulfill the biblical
mandate to educate youth. The Bible makes it very clear that education begins at home (Gen. 18:19,
Deut. 6: 7, Prov. 22:6, Eph. 6:4, 2 Tim 1:5, 3:15). It makes parents primarily responsible for their children
and charges them with an educational task.

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