Eight Evidences of Erroneous Education

Thoughts on Teaching Children in the Church

Through the years, I have read many different lessons for children.  I have seen enough problems in teacher’s manuals that I sometimes cringe when I am handed a manual and asked to teach.  Fortunately, people who know me know that I will refer first to the Bible and later to the manual. They expect that, so I am blessed that I am not expected to take the manual and use it exactly as it is presented.

At the same time, I know there are people who may be teaching for the first time.  They will usually take the materials and use them in the way they are presented.  So when I read something that misses the mark, I think of all those teachers who do not realize that the material they have been given is inadequate.  They think they should follow it as written. 

In order to alert teachers to the need to carefully examine their teacher’s materials, let me give you some of the main errors that I see in children’s curriculum.

1. Leave out or undervalue the main point of the Bible story.  What is the main point of the “Feeding of the 5,000?”  It is that Jesus, who looked like just an ordinary man, could take a little bit of bread and fish and feed more than 5,000 people with it.  He was not an ordinary man after all, but the Son of God.  A miracle happened that day!  Yet too often that story, when it is told to children, focuses on the need to share.  The story is not about sharing.  It is about a miracle.  It showed the people the power Jesus had.  We should teach the story with awe and wonder, not make it a moral about sharing.
2. Make the lesson one that will build up the children’s self-esteem by assuring them that they are at the center of God’s love.  Yes, God loves children with a love that goes beyond our comprehension, and nothing can separate a believer from that love.  However, we do not need to encourage a child’s self-centeredness.  Instead, if we help the children to understand God and His amazing plan of redemption, then His grace, mercy and love will naturally create a healthy view of God and a healthy view of themselves.
3.  Focus too much on the human characters instead of the supernatural One.  David killed the giant, Goliath!  Yes, he did.  But David was the first to give credit to the One to whom credit was due.  “I come in the name of the Lord.”  God was the one who put David there that day.  God was the one who gave David the ability to shoot straight.  God was the one who responded to David’s faith.  If we leave out God, why are we asking our children to come to Sunday School?
4. Waste time by using filler that has nothing to do with the main points you are trying to get across.  We have so little time in our children’s ministries that not one minute should be wasted.  Yes, we can teach using games, songs, crafts and other activities.  But we need to ensure that the activities actually teach something important that will help them remember the lesson.  For example, does the song, “Father Abraham” really help to teach children something about the lesson?  When the child walks away from Sunday School, will they go home talking about an amazing God or something much less important?
5. Focus on good behaviors instead of dealing with spiritual issues.  Too many lessons encourage children to act right rather than helping them realize that without God’s grace at work in us, none of us can ever measure up.  God has set a perfect standard before us.  Good behavior is not enough.  When children are old enough to understand their own sinfulness, we need to help them depend upon the God who can change them rather than asking them to change themselves.  We want to see what God can do in their lives, not what self-discipline can do.
6.  “Dumb it down.”  Too many people assume that children cannot learn the great theological truths of God’s Word.  True, it is very hard to teach those truths in simple terms, but if a teacher will give careful thought on how to present those truths, it can be done.  Since children are trusting, they will often believe these truths even more quickly than adults, and those truths will stay with them for a lifetime.
7. Forget about the whole counsel of God.  I have used curriculum that uses the same Bible stories over and over and thereby neglects huge portions of Scripture.  I have been in churches where the same lessons were being taught on Sunday and Wednesday, but the repetition was accidental, not intentional.  There was no attempt to say, “If this child stays in our church until they are eighteen, will they be equipped for adulthood when they are done?”
8.  Ignore the fact that the child is part of a family.  If we are going to do a good job of teaching children, we must also teach the family.  We have very little time with the children who come.  Their families are able to teach much more than we can.  Therefore, we must reach the home and help the parents teach their children.

God has given us a book.  That book is about Him.  When we teach it to children, we need to be sure that we are teaching in such a way that what we teach will not have to be unlearned at a later date.  We want to provide a solid foundation that will last a lifetime.

October Update

October, 2015

Dear faithful friends,

The countdown has begun and preparations are underway.  Tickets are bought.  Packing is beginning,  and we are excited about the opportunities ahead of us.  Please join us in praying about these things.

Travel:

·         October 25 – 26:  Fly to Montevideo, Uruguay.

·         October 30 – November 4:  Travel by car and bus in Uruguay and Argentina.

·         November 4 – 5:  Fly home.

·         November 7 – 8:  Joan flies with her parents to Japan.

·         November 23 – 25:  Joan flies home again.

Conference:  In Montevideo, we will join IPM’s missionaries from all over Latin America for a conference.  This is an opportunity for our missionaries to get some much needed encouragement from the home office and from each other.  It is a chance for us to meet our missionaries face to face and to find out who may want us to come to teach seminars or courses for them.

Teaching and Preaching:  The conference ends on Thursday.  On Friday, we will travel inland to spend some days with one of our missionaries, Anibal Fornazarich, where we will be teaching some seminars.  Pray for effective teaching for both of us and for effective translation for Charlie.  He has been asked to teach on hermeneutics, and that is a hard subject to teach in one language, let alone through an interpreter.  On Sunday we will cross the border into Argentina where we (or maybe just Charlie) will teach seminars for the next few days.  Charlie will also preach, probably both in Uruguay and Argentina.  

Curriculum:  The VBS curriculum that Joan has been working on for a couple years is finally done.  A sample copy in English and one that has been translated into Spanish will be taken to the conference.  There our missionaries will be able to peruse the material and make any necessary changes to the Spanish edition.  After that we have to figure out how to get it into their hands.

Flexibility:  As you may be able to tell, flexibility is necessary.  It is entirely possible that the schedule and subject matter of our teaching will change when we get there.  This has happened before.  Pray that the Lord will use for us His eternal purposes.

Trip to Japan:  Pray for Joan as she accompanies her 90-year-old parents to visit their son and his family who are missionaries in Japan.  This is likely the last trip abroad that they will be able to take.   Pray that it would be a blessing to everyone they meet along the way.  Pray for Charlie as he stays home.  If you would like to have him come and speak while she is gone, it would help the time pass by more quickly.  He is more than happy to travel while she is gone.

Thank you for praying.  We could not do this task without God, and your prayers on our behalf before His throne assure us that He is at work. 

Co-laboring together with you,

Charlie and Joan Farley

Joy in Maine, More Joy in Georgia, and Sorrow in Florida

“Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”  Romans 12:15

Unlike many American families, my siblings are spread across the country and my extended family as well.  We can go months and even years before a family gathering happens.  So the past month has been unusual.  For the past three weekends, I have been with extended family.  

 

Joy. 

Three weekends ago, my brother got married in her church in Maine.  Many people came from nearby and a few from far away.  I had the privilege of traveling with my parents back to Maine, where my heart still is.  My dad officiated. 

 

It was a day of great joy as Steven, who has been looking for his match for many years, found it in a beautiful woman in Maine.  She is tall, athletic, intelligent, and a woman of great character who loves the Lord deeply.  

Many of her friends and relatives were there to celebrate with her and her family.  Several of my siblings were there as well as one cousin who drove in from New Hampshire. Some of my friends are also Tara’s friends, so I was able to reconnect with them as well.

More joy.  

The following weekend our family gathered in Georgia to celebrate my parents’ 90^th birthdays.  Dad is six days older than Mom, so both of their birthdays happen later this month.  In order to make it easier for people to attend, we decided to hold the celebration on the Saturday before Labor Day.  Invitations were sent out a while ago.  Their church offered to provide the meeting space, the food, and the flowers.  

All of us took part in making it a success.  My older sister decorated.  My younger sister provided the desserts.  The brothers sang.  (My youngest brother, who is a missionary in Japan, was unable to make it, so Charlie provided the fourth voice in the quartet.)  

We also read through a timeline of each of their lives.  For each of them, it was a demonstration of God's grace and their faith in that great God.

More than one hundred people attended.  Two of Dad’s siblings came up from Florida.  Some of their nieces and nephews came from as far as California.  A granddaughter came from Kuwait and a grandson from England.  Many of their church came as well as former colleagues from AMG.  It was a great day for us to celebrate lives that have been lived by faith in a great God.

 

The following day, Steven and Tara held a reception for those who were not able to attend the wedding.  They played a video of the ceremony and we ate lunch together.  Steven shared some precious words about his bride.  Again, it was a day of great joy.

Sorrow.   

This weekend my parents and I traveled to Florida to spend some time with my dad’s family.  My youngest uncle, Uncle David, was dying of cancer, and we wanted to see him before he died while he could still talk with us.  We drove down on Saturday and spent the night with another uncle.  On Sunday we went to church where my cousin’s husband pastors and they invited us to their house for lunch along with a bunch of others.

It was after 2:00 when we left my cousin’s home.   I called Aunt Edna to ask if it was a good time to come.  She warned us that he was now sleeping a lot.  When we walked in, we hugged her and began talking with her in quiet voices, while Uncle David lay in a hospital bed there in the living room.  I hoped that he would awaken so that we could at least talk with him a little, but he continued to lie there.  After a while I got up to stand by his bed.  He was quiet, almost too quiet.  We asked her about that.  

“He’s been like that for a couple days now,” she said.  "He wakes up long enough to drink a little and then goes back to sleep."

After a while Dad said it was time to leave.  Mom and I got up and went to the hospital bed once more and stood on either side.  He had not moved at all since we had arrived.  I reached out and touched him.  He was cold to the touch.  Mom and I both looked for a pulse.  There was none.  Aunt Edna came over and touched him too and agreed.  He was gone.  He had evidently slipped quietly away while we were there.

Joy in glory for him.  Sorrow for us who remain.  Dad came over and prayed.  Tears fell.  We will miss this great man who touched all of our lives in great ways.  

Thank you, Lord, for the privilege of knowing and loving him.

So Little Time - August newsletter

Dear Faithful Friends,


We returned to our home in Georgia after a 10-week trip. During that time, we travelled by car through the upper Midwest, Canada, Maine, and back home. We also flew from Boston to Peru and back again. We give thanks for God’s grace for His protection and enablement. Even though we felt constrained by our limited time in each place, we are thankful that God, who is not bound by time, can multiply our short time and our meager ministry to do great things to glorify His name.

Four years ago, we met Daniel and Sonia Araujo who are investing their lives in making disciples in Arequipa, Peru. It was good to walk into their church on that first Sunday morning and see some familiar faces and new ones as well. Many improvements have been made to the church building. In addition, their son Junior was only beginning to be fully involved in the work of the ministry four years ago. He is now an integral part of their team. In fact, he is largely responsible for a new church
plant in Majes, a desert town about two hours away.

We arrived in Arequipa on June 20. For the next two weeks, we taught every night. Charlie taught a course on Hermeneutics where more than thirty people attended, and nine completed the course The following week, Joan taught on Christian Education. Forty people attended her course, and ten also completed the course work.  On Sundays, Charlie preached in various locations.

On our second Monday, we traveled seven hours over the mountains to a remote village in the Ubinas district. More than a decade ago, God placed this area on Daniel’s heart and he began to make the long journey over the mountains to win people there to the Lord. The growth has been slow, but now several of these villages have a small church. On the day we were there, six small local assemblies gathered for a big celebration together that included a baptism, a feast of alpaca stew, and a combined evening service. Charlie also had the privilege of preaching that day, and our nephew, Jeremy, who joined us on the trip, was his interpreter through most of those days in Arequipa.

The Araujos feel the pressure of time. What pastor do we know here in the US who is pastoring one church, filling in as pastor for another, planting a third church and working as a missionary in a district of multiple towns where there is no church?  So many people to win and disciple. So little time.

From Lima, we flew to Iquitos, the largest city in the world that is unreachable by road. Pastor Giovanni Avendaño, IPM’s Latin America director, met us there. From there, we took a boat down the Amazon River to the town of Mazan. For the next three days, we met with four men who are interested in becoming missionaries with IPM. Charlie taught classes that would help the men in their respective ministries – Communication; Dealing with Anger; Church Discipline; Marriage and Divorce; etc. Joan gave an introduction to IPM’s Children’s Ministry. Brother Giovanni went over IPM’s Policy and Procedure manual. When we were done, the four men were very appreciative. One of them told us as we were getting ready to leave, “Thank you for coming. I was so discouraged that I was ready to give up on ministry and go back to secular work. Now I feel ready to go back. I know I have made many mistakes simply because I did not understand God’s way of doing things. Pray for me and my family as I make the changes we need.” With limited resources, these men are struggling to make a difference in their areas for Christ. Pray for them.  On the Amazon River as well, there are so many souls, and so little time.

Peru has many children and often we were enchanted by their smiles and friendliness (some of the Mazan children are pictured on left).  It was obvious that Peru is an area where children’s ministry is needed. One night when we were sitting in a restaurant in Mazan, we saw four teenagers carrying a
stretcher to the hospital. The form on the stretcher was small and covered by a sheet. The restaurant owner told us, “He died this morning. He is the second ten year-old boy to die this week. The other one drowned on Sunday afternoon.” So many children. So little time.

We came back with hearts burdened for Peru, and especially Mazan and all the needs there. Please pray for IPM as they determine the best way forward to help these men.

In October, we are planning to go to Uruguay for IPM’s regional conference. We want to connect personally with IPM’s missionaries from all over Latin America and inquire how we can best help them. Joan is hoping to have a sample copy of a VBS curriculum for them to look over. Pray that God would help her complete that in time and that we would be able to get it translated as well. Pray, too, that God would supply the $3,000 we need to make this trip.

Thank you for your prayers for us. We felt God’s enabling grace on this trip and we saw His hand redirecting our steps.  Without Him, it would have been a disaster. It would have been so much time, with so little accomplished. Instead, because of God’s work, we believe that much was accomplished that will last into eternity.

Co-laboring together with you,
Charlie and Joan Farley