DAVID BURGES

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deut. 6:6,7). The familiar words of Moses to Israel are as relevant and important to us today as they were when first spoken, and they form the basis of the title of this article. There is no other group of people so important or so close at hand, to whom the gospel should be preached, as our children.

We should notice that these instructions from God on teaching the young, given through Moses, begin with the position of the teacher: “these words . . . shall be in thine heart”. We can hardly be fitted to impart to young people the wonders of God’s Word, the glory of His purpose, the extent of His grace in Jesus Christ, if these things are not first firmly embedded in our own souls, and then evident in our manner of living. The young are nothing if not discerning, and are quick to detect lack of conviction or, even worse, hypocrisy in their instructors. The old adage, “Do as I say, but not as I do”, will hardly carry weight with them, especially in this age when all forms of authority are open to question.

On the other hand, if our hearts are truly filled with joy and gratitude for the salvation that our heavenly Father has made available to us by His grace, our greatest desire should be to share that salvation with our own children, those of our brethren and sisters in Christ, and the other children in the locality. The opportunity to work in the youth group or in other activities with young people should be seen as a great privilege and not as a mere chore. The Great Teacher knew well that these children are the seed corn of the Kingdom, to be nurtured and encouraged in every possible way: “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God” (Mk. 10:14). One suspects that considerably more time and effort is expended in many ecclesias on the advertising and organisation of preaching efforts for the (generally uncaring) public at large than on the instruction and development of the young in the Truth.

It is an interesting comment on modern attitudes that, over recent years, the age at which young people no longer wish to be referred to as ‘children’ has been steadily declining. Today, from the age of about ten or so upwards, they can no longer be referred to as children but have to be spoken of by such terms as ‘youth’ or ‘young people’. The Scripture seems to make no such distinction.

However, using modern terminology, the age group we are considering occupies the period between genuine childhood, as signalled by total dependence on the parents, and adult maturity and independence. This period is one of transition and rapid development, both physically and spiritually.

As is well known, the hormonal changes which accompany puberty can be associated with changes of mood and temperament which may lead to difficult, or even antisocial behaviour, and require sympathetic understanding and careful handling if they are not to lead to confrontation or complete alienation. It is therefore important in the youth group, just as much as in the home situation, to seek to establish Divine principles of righteousness and holiness, while making due allowance for the emotional difficulties that young people often experience. “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged” (Col. 3:21) is a maxim which is as valid for teachers and leaders as for natural fathers. In the experience of the writer, a discipline based on mutual love and respect is much more effective than one centred in dictatorial rules on a whole range of petty misdemeanours. Another valuable corrective is for ‘uncles’ and ‘aunts’ to recall a little more clearly how their own youthful activities and enthusiasms sometimes led them to overstep the mark.

It has to be admitted, however, that in today’s society, which has largely abandoned spiritual values, difficulties of a completely different order can be experienced if a group contains a substantial number of children from families from outside the community. While there is no place whatever for complacency or self-congratulation, it is beyond dispute that children of brethren and sisters, because of their teaching from a very young age in the principles of righteousness, are more likely to adhere to Christian standards of behaviour than children from outside. In these circumstances a somewhat more regimented approach to discipline may be necessary.

Another of the difficulties which can face youth group leaders, if they are not themselves connected with the state education system, is in having an appreciation of the methods and standards by which young people are instructed in their daily schooling. Of course, the standards of the world are not the yardstick by which instruction in the precious things of the gospel should be measured. Nevertheless, the methods and approaches by which our children are used to being taught will be very different from those experienced by most of their present-day instructors in the Faith in their own youth, and this should be recognised and allowed for.

In particular, learning by rote and repetition have largely been replaced by heuristic learning, that is, learning by experiment and finding out. This should, in fact, cause us no distress, for, although learning things by heart has undoubted value, we frequently stress in our preaching that it is in personal exploration and study of the Scriptures that conviction and faith are to be found. To encourage, then, our young people in Bible exploration by such means as worksheets, concordance work and quizzes, as well as by traditional instruction, will not conflict with any principle that the Word of God places before us, and it can only be commended.

It is important to recognise, when approaching the teaching of the young, that our children today face an unprecedented variety of cultural and media pressures from the society around us. It has always been true, of course, that the young are susceptible to the attractions of the world and its ways and friendships. From the story of Jacob’s daughter Dinah, who “went out to see the daughters of the land” (Gen. 34: 1ff.), to the “young man void of understanding” following the way to the house of the strange woman (Prov. 7:6ff.), the Scripture gives ample warning of the extreme spiritual dangers of seeking the friendship of the world.

These dangers are precisely the same for our young people today, and the warnings just as valid. The technology of the second half of the twentieth century has, however, compounded the problem of the attraction of the world by bringing it right into the living room, as it were, particularly in the form of television and its addictive companion the video recorder, with their ability to portray an alluring, glamorous and wholly deceptive view of this corrupt and depraved age. The innocent world of children’s programmes all too soon gives way to films and soap operas, which feature crime, bad language, sex and violence in a heady brew. If brethren and sisters find entertainment in such material it will hardly be surprising if their children follow suit. It can be a depressing experience at a youth gathering to overhear our young people discussing at length, not the wholesome things of the Truth, but the latest meaningless happenings of the current ‘soap’ or an even more unsuitable film.

If parents are unable or unwilling to give a firm lead in the home it will hardly be possible for the youth group to counter such tendencies. Nevertheless the group can provide the forum for an open and Scriptural discussion of the issues of our attitude to the world and its culture, and of the need to bring the standards of our Lord Jesus Christ into every aspect of the young disciple’s life. We need to develop our young people’s thinking, from “Dad makes us turn it off if there is any bad language”, to the stage of, “We turn it off if there is any bad language”.

Few brethren and sisters would argue with the basic idea of organising meetings and activities specially directed at young people and their needs. Yet it undoubtedly needs to be recognised that there are attendant dangers. The Word of God, both in its instructions to Israel in the Old Testament and in exhortation to the ecclesia in the New, promotes the importance of the family unit, natural and spiritual. For example, Paul’s Epistle to Titus contains joint instruction for “aged men . . . aged women likewise . . . young women . . . young men likewise . . .” (Tit. 2:1-8).

It is clearly undesirable for any special group activity to lead to a breakdown in this essential family spirit, and yet there is a tendency today for the young to attend ‘youth gatherings’ while the older generation attend ‘fraternal gatherings’ . . . “and never the twain shall meet”. On the other hand, there also seem to be more ecclesias organising family days where all age groups can mix, and this is to be heartily recommended.

Nevertheless, so long as these dangers are recognised and every effort is made to keep youth activities in an ecclesial context, it must be agreed that any opportunities for our young people to be together, to share each other’s company and to study the Bible together, are to be viewed as a blessing from the Lord. For these reasons it is essential that mature and spiritually sound brethren and sisters are entrusted with this work and, at the same time, that as many as possible of the members of the ecclesia are also involved. The running of youth groups should never be left just to the young themselves, whether in the ecclesia, or in larger interecclesial area groups, which are not under sound ecclesial control. The selection of speakers and topics for study and discussion at youth evenings and gatherings should be subject to exactly the same scrutiny as all ecclesias apply to other meetings, because they are just as vital.

It seems hardly necessary to point out that the only necessary ingredients for forming a group are a number of young people, a leader appointed by the ecclesia (or a number of ecclesias, in the case of an area group), and a plan of suitable events. A wise leader will consult with the young people themselves about the type of activity which they would like, subject to the cautionary points made above, and in the case of a larger group may well organise a committee of young people to assist and make suggestions.

Notice that the availability of an ecclesial hall is not essential, provided that the members of the ecclesia are prepared, as they should be, to open their homes to this profitable spiritual work. This writer’s ecclesia, although possessing its own meeting room, has for many years successfully rotated its youth group meetings among members’ houses. This has the advantages of sharing the burden of work, helping young and old to meet and study the Word together and involving many more in the group. It also spares the leader the daunting chore of resetting the meeting room chairs at 10.30 p.m. on a Friday evening!

Although such an approach would not suit a large city-centre group, its adoption might well assist smaller ecclesias to meet some of the practical difficulties of running a group. There seems to be an unfortunate trend in certain areas of the Brotherhood of large ecclesias getting larger and small ones smaller, principally because parents, rightly concerned for the spiritual welfare of their children, feel compelled to join the ecclesia which can offer an active youth group. It needs courage, and no little enthusiasm, to try to reverse this trend, but surely it is worth the effort.

The content of the regular youth group programme must clearly be tailored to the needs and abilities of those who attend. But it goes without saying that the first and overriding priority is to impart and develop in the young people an abiding love and respect for the Word of God. A substantial proportion (surely not less than fifty per cent) of the available time must be given over to this worthy task. It is scarcely profitable to the young, or honouring to our heavenly Father, to allocate a mere five minutes for a ‘Thought for the Day’ after several hours of hectic social activity. There is an obvious need for balance here; the boundless energy of the young, especially late in the day when their elders are longing for their beds, has to be accommodated by the inclusion of suitably energetic activities, but never at the expense of the exercise of the mind in the ways of God, which alone can bring the promise of everlasting life. And let them by all means exercise their grey matter in preparing talks themselves, on previously selected topics or the daily readings, for here is the finest way for them to explore the treasure store of Scripture.

Youth weekends clearly offer some advantages over the regular ecclesial youth group evenings by giving the opportunity (not always accepted!) to study Biblical subjects in greater depth. It also allows for young people from a wider area to meet and to cement friendships, and one suspects this may be the main reason for their popularity. But is the writer risking bringing wrath upon his head in suggesting that there may be too many of them? Like honey, it is possible to have just too much of a good thing (Prov. 25:16). One suspects that many other valuable ecclesial activities frequently suffer from the absence of the younger element in the meeting because of the call of yet another youth weekend. And would that more of our young people would attend fraternal gatherings and make them into family gatherings for all age groups in the household! So again let there be a balance in this too.

However, there are no such qualifications when it comes to youth holidays and camps. These are an institution wholly to be recommended as a spiritual blessing for both the young and the not-so-young, provided, of course, they are run along the same principles as those outlined above. A week or so spent away from the pressures of life in the company of friends who love God and the things of His Truth, is a delightful experience, as this writer can testify, which seems to anticipate the blessings which the Kingdom surely holds in store. Without question the labour involved for those who organise such events is considerable, but the rewards are even greater.

It is impossible to overestimate the importance to the development of spiritually healthy ecclesias of the caring for and nurturing of our young people in the precious things of God’s Truth and in the ways of discipleship. We need not look upon them as simply the responsibility of their natural parents. We all share a responsibility to help in bringing them up “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”. It is true for each servant of Christ within the ecclesia that “children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is His reward” (Ps. 127:3).

RON ABEL

When he left Laban and journeyed into the land of Canaan he travelled among many settlements of foreign people. Although Jacob was able to say that God “hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands . . .” (Gen. 31:42), he feared for his life as he travelled, an unarmed sojourner, among city and town people. The events surrounding his daughter brought him grief of mind and heightened the fear he had for his life.

Dinah “went out to see the daughters of the land” (Gen. 34:1). Why she did this we are not told. It was the daughters, not the sons, which she went out to see. Perhaps the nomadic existence of her family was regarded as too restrictive. Initially such a venture seemed innocent enough, but what follows was to affect Dinah for the rest of her life. “When Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her” (v. 2).

Dinah might have tried to rationalise the sin on the ground that Shechem was “better than many Christadelphians”. After all, was not Shechem the prince of the country, more honourable than all his father’s house (vv. 2,19)? As for his intentions, were not these good enough? He intended to marry her; he “loved the damsel, and spake kindly” to her (in the Hebrew it means ‘to make a mark on her heart’). He was prepared to pay anything as a bridal payment or gift because he “had delight in Jacob’s daughter” (Gen. 34:3,4,19).

It requires underlining that such conduct “ought not to be done” (Gen. 34:7). Shechem had “wrought folly in Israel” and defiled a daughter of Dinah’s enraged brothers, Simeon and Levi.

Dinah’s visit to the Hivites became the thin end of a very worldly wedge. Not only were the standards of morality compromised, but the Shechemites had further designs: “And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein” (vv.9,10). To concede this plan would require Jacob to violate the principle of separation which God has always required of His people (cf. Gen. 27:46; 28:1,2). The attitude of God was later set out by Moses: “You shall not make marriages with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons . . . For you are a people holy to the LORD your God” (Deut. 7:3,6, RSV).

The same principle is as true for believers today as it was for those in Old Testament times. The Christadelphian today is holy—set apart (1 Cor. 7:14; Rom. 11:16)—and through Christ is Abraham’s seed (Gal. 3:29). Like Dinah, this separation to God can be compromised by seeking social friends at school and work who do not share a love of God’s Truth. In matters of friendship and courtship ‘small’ compromises often lead to others. For example, the real intention of the Hivites was set out by Shechem in a proposal designed to win approval: “Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of their’s be our’s?” (Gen. 34:23). Similarly, a young person must be very careful to see the world and its allurements for all that it is—“the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, [which] is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 Jno. 2:16).

There are sterling examples in the Brotherhood of spouses who have taught their partners the truths of the gospel. For each of these the question has arisen, no doubt, whether baptism was about to be undertaken with purity of motives. It is instructive to note that the same issue was at stake in the alternatives given to the Shechemites by Jacob’s sons: “Only on this condition will we consent to you: that you will become as we are and every male of you be circumcised” (Gen. 34:15, RSV).

This is similar to a Christadelphian teenager telling his girlfriend, “We will get married, when you get baptized, but if you do not get baptized then I will not marry you”.

Although this was a deceitful ploy on the part of Dinah’s brothers, they had no business offering covenant relationship (which circumcision signified—Gen. 17:10-14) to persons who did not understand the meaning of the covenant. To do so today would be equivalent to attempting to baptize a person who either did not understand the Gospel or who was not repentant. The only change which could be effected would be the conversion of a dry sinner into a wet sinner. Such play-acting is not baptism.

A curse was invoked on Simeon and Levi for their conduct (Gen. 49:5-7). The incident reveals the low esteem with which they held their wonderfully privileged position in God’s holy covenant. God’s anger was justifiably shown. Similarly, God’s displeasure can only be expected if the covenant is used as a means to satisfy one’s own plans.

Even when a boyfriend or girlfriend seems adequately to understand the gospel, the heart must be right before God. To come to baptism without repentance is like attempting to enter the sheepfold by another way. Jesus said that person is “a thief and a robber” (Jno. 10:1; cf. Mt. 3:7-9). Love is not shown by pressuring someone into the Truth. To do so is to help make the person a “child of hell” (Mt. 23:15) subject to a judgement of condemnation. This is selfishness, not love.

Marriage “only in the Lord” (1 Cor. 7:39) is what God expects from His sons and daughters. If you are teaching boyfriends or girlfriends the Truth, you must never pressure them into accepting baptism as a requisite for marriage. Baptism must not be undertaken from peer pressure or pressure from a girlfriend or boyfriend. It requires time and prayerful reflection to ensure purity of motives. A good test could be put this way: “Would you be baptized even if we broke up?”.

Consider too, the following:

The same questions may be asked of boyfriends or girlfriends raised in Christadelphian homes. Baptism is not a guarantee for a happy marriage. Many young people seem to think that as long as a spouse is selected in the Truth nothing can go wrong. Marriage in the Truth is indeed a necessary requirement, but not the only one. Some who begin the race for life eternal never finish—they become drop-outs on the way (see Mt. 13:18-23)—and some who are baptized are ill-equipped to assume the responsibilities of providing for a wife and raising children.

1. In Genesis 34:4 “damsel” is a translation of the Heb yaldah which means ‘lass, girl’ (Young). See the use of yaldah in Joel 3:3—“they have . . . sold a girl for wine”—and Zech. 8:5 —”Jerusalem . . . full of boys and girls playing in the streets”.

2. The New American Standard Version renders “he took her” (Gen 34:2) as “he seized her” (as in the RSV). However, the verb simply means ‘to take’, as can be seen by looking up the word in a concordance.