Five reasons to include education in your ministry to children and youth
By Rod Dreher
Rawlings School of Divinity
CLED 720: Biblical & Theological Foundations of Education
Genevieve Hamer
July 10, 2022
Five reasons to include education in your ministry to children and youth
1. A Biblical Mandate: We must begin with Scripture and ask what are the biblical
principles about education. God has given clear guidance in the Bible on what, who,
why, and how to teach children. God commands us to teach children His laws, His
character, and His Word (Deut. 4:9; Ps. 78:4-8; Eph. 6:4). According to the Bible, God did
not give the government the role of educating children. Education is a parent’s
responsibility, with the support of grandparents and the church. Parents are to instruct
children in the Lord, teach them God’s laws, and train a child to apply God’s truth to life.
Parents have the freedom to partner with others to educate a child but must do so in
accordance with the principles given in the Bible.
2. The Incredible Impact: Education is a powerful influence in the life of children. Children
will spend 16,000 hours at school between K-12, considerably more time than in church.
If pastors are serious about shepherding a child’s heart, then education is a non-
negotiable aspect of ministry to the next generation. Modern-day public education has
scores of secular presuppositions underneath it, which are not understood or
recognized by most Christian parents. Trying to overlay Christian beliefs to humanistic
education is not successful for the majority of parents, nor is it biblical. Pastors are
shepherds called to feed the flock entrusted to their care and protect the flock from
false doctrine and wolves that would destroy faith in Christ.
3. A Means of Evangelism and Discipleship: Biblically, education is discipleship. It shapes
what a child believes and who a child becomes. Christian education plays a critical role
in proclaiming the gospel to children, immersing children in gospel truth, training
children for gospel living, and sending out children to transform culture through the
power of the gospel. Paul reminds us of the critical importance of the centrality of
Scripture in the education of children: “From childhood you have known the Holy
Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”
(2 Tim. 3:15). When the church separated itself from the education of the next
generation, it forfeited its position of influence in a child’s life and has steadily lost our
children to the world in increasing numbers.
4. Christ-Centered Relationships: Godly relationships with teachers and friends encourage
wise choices, holy living, and obedience to God. God reminds us, “Bad company
corrupts good character” (1 Cor. 15:33) and “The student is not above the teacher, nor a
servant above his master” (Matt. 10:24).
5. A Priority in Church History: There is a long list of Christian leaders in church history
who have emphasized the importance of Christian education and believed it was a
critical component of their mission and ministry. They believed the church and Christian
school were united in ministry and mutually dependent upon one another. For example,
“The great church reformers—Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, Ulrich Zwingli, and
others—gave as much energy to establishing Christian schools as they gave to reforming
the church. To them, Christian school education and church reform were inseparable
allies. Neither, they believed, could succeed without the other.” 4 Martin Luther was a
champion of Christian education. He states, “When schools prosper, the church remains
righteous and her doctrine pure. . . . Young pupils and students are the seed and source
of the church. If we were dead, whence would come our successors. If not from the
schools? For the sake of the church, we must have and maintain Christian schools.” 5
Many Christians are uncertain why we educate a child, the purpose and goal of education,
who is given the responsibility in Scripture, and how we are to accomplish the task. As a result,
many Christians have unintentionally adopted an unbiblical view of education and take their
educational cues from culture rather than Scripture. Pastors have an incredible opportunity to
cast a biblical vision for the education of the next generation and help parents think biblically
about a topic that is critically important to the evangelism and discipleship of the next
generation. If you believe education matters, then it is time to prioritize it in your ministry to
the next generation.
ENDNOTES
1. Nicole Baker Fulgham, Schools in Crisis: They Need Your Help (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,
2013), 27.
2. Tim Challies, “What If God Doesn’t Care a Whole Lot About How You Educate Your
Children?,” October 4, 2019, https://www.challies.com/articles/what-if-god-doesnt-care-a-
whole-lot-about-how-you-educate-your-children.
3. Samuel G. Kahn, A Short History of Christian Education (Jerusalem: Yesodot Publishers, 1960),
116.
4. Paul A. Kienel, A History of Christian School Education Vol. 1 (Colorado Springs, CO:
Purposeful Design Publications, 1998), xvi.
5. F.V.N. Painter, Luther on Education (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1889), 132-133.
