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Scripture Reading: Luke 2:40, 51-52
We expect the children’s work among us to be very prevailing. Therefore, we need to have a proper realization and preparation for this work. When we speak of the children’s work, we are referring to children who have not graduated from elementary school but are more than five years old. These are the target of our children’s work. If we are unable to take care of the children who are younger than this age group, we will leave them to the care of their parents. In order to give a message to young people or college students, we know that we must be well prepared. Some may think that it is easy to care for the children who are between the ages of five and twelve by simply giving them a piece of candy. However, to handle the children in this way will not yield a good result. According to my observation, the most difficult work to do effectively is the children’s work.
In Christianity, doing the children’s work is considered to be like operating a school; hence, it is called Sunday school. In Western countries there is a Sunday school for every age: for elderly people, for younger adults, for college age, for teenagers, and for children. The denominations have Sunday school classes, and afterward everyone comes together for the Sunday church service. In the Sunday school classes they may use textbooks. We do not agree with this method. We feel that our children’s meeting should not have the flavor of a Sunday school. From our experience we feel that if we regard the children’s work as a school and teach our children from textbooks, it will be of more harm than benefit to them. This method educates the children with premature knowledge. Later, when the children grow up, they will not be very open to listen to the truth. The children hear too many Bible stories in Sunday school, and their hearing becomes dull. When they grow up, they will not be moved by what they hear. This is a problem.
Hence, the material that we prepare for the children’s work should not be influenced by the material used in the Sunday schools in Christianity. Not only should we not use their material; we should not even reference it. We must drop the way of Sunday school in Christianity. We must never consult their material. Their material will not help us in the children’s work; on the contrary, it will cause our work to deviate.
What material should we use to teach the children? We should begin by teaching the children how to be a proper human being. We should show them that man is different from the animals and different from the trees, plants, and flowers. After this we should speak of man’s character and conduct. We should teach the children to honor their parents and be loving, pure, obedient, honest, and proper in their conduct. We must be careful not to give them a religious thought or concept.
When we speak of the difference between man and the animals, we can mention that man was created by God and also that the heavens and the earth were created by God. We can also say a little about how man was created in God’s image. We do not need to say more than this. I do not agree with explaining all of Genesis 1 and 2 to the children. Even if we touch man’s fall in Genesis 3, we should speak briefly and should not tell the entire story of the fall. When we speak to children, we should tell them experiential stories; we should not give them too much doctrine. It is not necessarily a benefit for the children to know too much.
We need to train the teachers for the children’s meeting in such a way that they can find illustrations by themselves from practical situations. For instance, they can ask the children, “Are you being honest if you steal candy from your older brother?” or “Suppose your mother saves a bigger piece of candy for your younger sister, and this makes you unhappy and jealous. Do you still love your mother and your sister?” When we speak to the children, we must use practical examples. (The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1967, vol. 1, pp. 311-312)
In caring for young children, we must be careful not to make them religious. We must not pass on mere religious knowledge from the Bible, and we should not tell them too many Bible stories. Rather, we should keep back some portions until later. Furthermore, we should not force them to pray. If we will practice these matters, we will be able to be successful. On the positive side, the first thing we should do with elementary age children is to help them to know how to be persons with a proper humanity. We must help them to know what a proper humanity is and how to behave as human beings. To this end, we can have many lessons and use demonstrations and illustrations. We can bring a small animal or some flowers and talk about the difference between man and these things. Then we can tell them how to behave themselves as persons who are altogether different from the lower creatures.
We must also help them to know how to honor their parents, love others, and know the proper elements of human morality, such as humility, patience, and kindness. In this way we can build them up as proper materials for the Lord’s use. To receive the Lord and enjoy Him requires us to have a proper humanity as good material. Within the six years of the elementary age, there are about three hundred Lord’s Days to build up the children in their human character. It is very helpful for us to do this.
The mistake made by Christianity in their so-called Sunday schools is that they try to make the children religious by giving them too much knowledge and too many Bible stories. Eventually, this makes it difficult to help them. After they grow up and we refer them to the story of the fall of Adam, they may say, “Since I was five years old, I already knew how Eve took the fruit and gave it to Adam, and man became fallen. There is no need to tell me this again.” Because of this, they will not be able to receive inspiration from the Word. That is why we should withhold from them certain stories from the Bible and keep them until a later time. At first we should simply help them to grow up as proper persons with the full understanding and realization of what a proper humanity is. (The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1967, vol. 1, pp. 503-504)
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To compile material for the teachers, we need a number of brothers who know the truth and are also skilled in writing. The material does not need to be in five or six levels. We need only three levels—elementary, intermediate, and advanced. Each level can be used for two years.
The material for the elementary level should be entirely from a child’s perspective. When we speak of man, we should ask the children whether man is the same as a dog, a cat, or a tiger. We should tell them that man is not the same as the animals and explain to them why man is different. That is good enough. We should not present a doctrinal explanation but should use only practical examples.
Gradually, as we proceed to the intermediate level, we can give the children a little more Bible knowledge. We can convey to them a deep impression that there is a God in the universe, that man fell and committed sin, and that the Lord Jesus is our Savior. We do not have to give too much doctrine, but we should impress them with the facts in the Bible. Then when the children proceed to an advanced level, they will almost be ready to follow the messages in the big meetings. The children do not need too much doctrine; they only need a general knowledge of the truth. This requires the careful work of the brothers who compile the teaching material so that the children do not receive premature knowledge. (The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1967, vol. 1, pp. 312-313)
We should not put all the ages together. We should rather classify the children according to their age. The five- and six-year-olds can be one grade, followed by the seven- and eight-year-olds, the nine- and ten-year-olds, and the eleven- and twelve-year-olds. We should have at least three grades for the six elementary years. At first, we may use a series of meetings to train the teachers of these grades according to the way we have fellowshipped in this chapter. There is the need for some brothers and sisters to spend the time to prepare lessons and instructions on how to use them. There is no need to compose the lessons in full; we can simply give some guidelines, such as which week to speak concerning honoring our parents and some hints on how to illustrate this lesson. After being trained, each teacher can choose the particular illustrations he will use. We should not prepare uniform printed lessons to be read in each class. Perhaps half a page of points, illustrations, and instructions is adequate. It should be easy to prepare lessons in this way. (The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1967, vol. 1, pp. 506-507)
