But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14).
A child’s world is a cacophony of the home, the school, and the religious community, be it church, mosque, shrine, etc. And each structure has a culture. The home culture is electrified with parental rules and 'runnings'. The school culture is riddled with administrative rules and regulations with educators/teachers running the ‘show.’ In the religious community, young people are compelled to follow a set of commandments statutory to belief systems designed to connect them to and worship a Supreme Being.
What if all these structures, the home-school-worship, don’t agree, or smoothly connect one to the other? As guardians over children, the parents, teachers, and religious elders (collectively dubbed Mentor-Teachers) could all contribute to the collision of ideas targeting the spiritual being of our children grieving their souls as they try to please all the authoritarians in their lives.
Children growing up in Christian homes exclaim to their friends, “I don’t like going to church. My parents don’t even talk to each other; and I’m tired of school—it’s so boring!” The young people nurtured in the Moslem home leave the house, especially the girls, in a hijab, or head covering, and then discard it into their book bags with a change of clothes once far away from the eyes of dad and mom. They hardly perform the prayers five times a day, and many express the emptiness they feel inside. Children and teens of traditional faith and others seem not to be able to explain to others what their belief system is all about. They simply say, “It’s what we do that’s all, and live in a whirlwind of superstition suspended over the functions of food and days of the week. As a result of all this ‘disconnectedness’ in their three major worlds—the home, the school, the religious center—many adolescents take to alcohol and smoking, sexing, ‘sakawa’ and gambling, and ultimately, suicide just to escape these day-to-day realities because they fail at twisting and squeezing themselves into spaces too tight for them to fit comfortably.
As Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), it is imperative that Christian children get on track, that is, back on the narrow way, in order to lead their peers into a connected and multi-functional abundant life of freedom where love and joy comprise a fundamental lifestyle along with all the other fruit of the Spirit (Read Galatians 5:22-23). The home, the school, and the church must identically reflect each other and encourage the same “rules and regulations” based on the commandments of God, the Creator of all humanity, through His Son Jesus Christ. The denial of the existence of the purpose of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the brunt of all the confusion and emptiness surging in the souls of young people, the children, because their guardians, or Mentor-Teachers, are disobeying His commandment to “Let the little children come to Me.”
“Little” in this context means, “spiritual babies” and connotes a child-like way of viewing the environment around him or her. A child’s eye-view is from a source of innocence, seeks for goodness, and rejoices in the rightness of everything. That’s why, when children (young people from Nursery up to SHS) are abused in any form, they become so traumatized that their emotional, psychological, and mental strength deteriorate into deepened spiritual depression, or bondage. The shock of anyone violating their state of innocence and peace constructs such a stronghold in their sense of self-worth that the damage can be irreversible, except for coming to the One who can put it all back together again. Restoration of brokenness is what Jesus specializes in; and He does it with divine love. This love is so pure and so powerful, it can transform the atheist and the occultist into His true devout worshipers.
There is no greater power in the universe than God’s love expressed in Jesus Christ. This love takes everything wrong in a person’s ‘world’ and makes everything right. The transformation is known as the New Birth. How does this New Birth happen? What does it mean? How can it make right the wrongs in this world? We shall take this journey together while traveling this Series Train Up a Child in the Way. It will require a new way of thinking that doesn’t conform to this world, but thrives in a spiritual world of truth, integrity, trust, and ultimate obedience.
As Mentor-Teachers of children and teens, our primary influence is loving them into who God created them to be without prejudice, fault-finding, or discouragement. Through our training them up in the Way, we are commanded in Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-18; Luke 24:46-49; John 17:16-21; 20:21-23; and Isaiah 61:1-4 to produce multitudes of saved (born-again) souls who are:
· Independent thinkers who can solve problems using practical and Christ-centered solutions.
· Motivated by the power of Christ’s love with confidence in Him and determined to succeed at any positive endeavor while reaching and living at their highest potential.
· Prepared for leadership in any chosen professional, vocational, artistic, industrial, agricultural, or entrepreneurial career led and directed by the Holy Spirit.
· Healthy Christians who can also serve as Mentor-Teachers to younger souls unto Christ.
We do this through Wholistic Christ-Centered Education with exemplary Models of Learning.
To be part of a Movement that brings our children out of darkness into light,
join us this month:
© 2024 by Patience Osei-Anyamesem. All rights reserved. Published by The Light In Me Enterprise. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews or other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
For COURSE ONE – WEEK 1: QUALIFICATIONS OFA MENTOR-TEACHER
The artwork depicted in the blog article is carefully selected to draw out the points made for healing of the soul, and by no means promote any ideologies from the various artists unless they are found in the center of God's perfect will.
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