There are a whole lot of people who could work out the details far, far better than I. While I do have experience teaching in schools and writing curricula, I’m not that strong in elementary education, as they call it. What I know is the broad shape of what God requires. If I were elder of a community just starting out, what would I tell them?
It’s the same for discipleship itself. There are certain predictable changes involved in moving from the Kingdom of Darkness to the Realm of the Spirit. The difference is in the pedagogy mechanisms, because the starting point is different. With converts, we have the advantage of conscious adoption, but a lot of old baggage to process. With children, we have the advantage of less baggage, but have to build everything from scratch.
The fundamental issue in spiritual terms is bringing the children up to first acknowledge their feelings, their emotions and appetites, then gently show them how to discount that voice roaring in their ears. This is really very different from the muddled path generally followed in modern American families. We prepare their minds to accept the assumptions of mysticism, that focus on the other-worldly interests. I prefer to use what I call the three pillars of mysticism, but there are probably better ways to say it:
- Commitment to Truth, which is much bigger than ourselves. Indeed, we must remain certain of our fallen nature, our inherent weakness in the flesh.
- Empathy means we care about other people because we share their pains and sorrows, as it were.
- Disengagement keeps us from getting wrapped up in results, which are always God’s concern. We do what we do for only one reason, and that is we can’t walk away from it. By no means are we in control.
After we work our way through that, we realize our only mission in life is obey and endure. We have to teach children sorrow is just about the norm, but they don’t have to let it own them. We don’t conquer the world; we conquer ourselves.
Tall order, I know.
On the way, of course, we teach them the Laws of God. This is the gateway to the rest. The obvious assumption is there is a God to whom we are accountable. We further teach He has revealed enough for us to meet His demands. Keeping in mind the Covenant of Moses is no longer active, we examine how it fit into the life of that nation, that place, that time, and we do so under the tutelage of Jesus. He made plenty of comments indicating how to understand the Law of Moses. From there, we gain a better grasp of what Noah was all about.
The academic equipment necessary begins with the intellectual development exercises of communication and structure (mental map of the world, expectations). Whatever you might want to adapt from secular sources, and even good solid Christian Education sources, you had better run it through the filter established by rejecting the assumptions of Western Civilization. That is, we start from the conscious assertion rational analytical methods will only take you as far as mere mechanics, but the real meaning and importance of everything is found above that level.
Never let them believe they are going to figure it all out. That isn’t going to kill investigative and exploratory genius. On the contrary, it becomes altogether safe and joyful, because it will always be restrained by the purpose of obeying God. Whatever it is they can do with science, art, etc., will be merely tools for the real purpose in life of revealing God. Material comfort and progress have their place, but never, ever in the forefront of human activity. In the long run, we never forget we can never really fix this broken world, and should not really want to to devote much in that direction.
What they need most is not to take themselves too seriously, so they learn life itself on this plane isn’t really all that important. The purpose of living is showing something of the God who makes it worth dying.
