In Case You’re Asked…Who Disciples Covenant Children?

From time to time we need to be reminded that much of our understanding Scripture is obviously culturally conditioned. We often fail to see what God is communicating in his word. This impacts us at the application level. As I study hermeneutics (Bible interpretation), I realize how easy it is to make the wrong application of what we think God intended to say and miss the point.

We can take a word in the original Hebrew language in the Old Testament or Greek in the New Testament and translate it into our language, which we believe we should do according to the first chapter of Westminster Confession of Faith. Sometimes the word chosen to translate may not clearly represent the original idea. That is why we should check several good translations when studying the Scriptures. It is even better to know how to use the original words.

This is particularly applicable with the English word “family.” The Oxford American Dictionary’s first definition is “parents and children.” On the other hand The Webster New Collegiate Dictionary begins “a group of people united by certain convictions (as of religion or philosophy).” Further down the list is the idea of parents and children.

In Genesis 12, God establishes his promise to Abraham’s family. “…In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Most translations use “family” to translate the Hebrew word mishpachah. However, that is more than a reference to the family as mom and pop and the children. The term refers to something broader and more inclusive than what we call the nuclear family. To understand what the Scriptures are saying, we must not only have some familiarity with the original setting but we must also read those words in the context in which the Bible writer uses them.

When God established his covenant with Abraham and his family, his intent was something beyond what we usually think of as family, i.e. the smaller family unit. He was referring to tribes, peoples, a clan or a circle of relations. The closet Hebrew word used to connote father, mother, and children is bayet, which is, translated “household.” Dr. Allan Curry, professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Ms. and a regional trainer for Christian Education and Publications has pointed out that there is simply no good Hebrew word for family as we use it today. The closest translation is “tribes.” He is on target with that statement.

What does all of this have to do with this “In Case You’re Asked” page? The lead article focuses on youth ministry in a local church. We are sometimes asked, “why should the church be involved in a children and youth ministry? That is the family’s responsibility to train, disciple, and educate them.” Whose responsibility is it to train, disciple, and educate God’s covenant children? Here is how we normally reply to that type of question.

First, understand that when the Scriptures use the word “family” in their English translation, they are not simply referring to parents and children. In the biblical family order, we could actually think of family using concentric circles. Parents and children are the inner circle, relatives are the next circle, and the third larger circle are those joined together by religion or philosophy, to use Webster’s definition. For us that is the church. The usual English definition suggests the first circle and maybe the second but seldom the third broader circle.

Second, there are Scriptures that relate to parents and children. But the Scriptures also speak of the covenant family of God, which we call the church. It implies the broader sense of peoples, tribes or clans.

Third, both parents and church must understand that in discipling God’s covenant children and educating them in the whole counsel of God, they are partners in that process. When the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy refers to that process, the instructions are not simply addressed to parents but to the whole of “Israel” (the church) as well.

The Presbyterian Church in America has attempted to understand and apply the family in the Hebrew Christian sense. For example, in describing its form of government, we read, “ The members of the visible Church catholic area all those persons in every nation, together with their children, who make profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and promise submission to His laws,” (BOCO 1:3). In BOCO 4:1 “A particular church consists of a number of professing Christians, with their children, associated together for divine worship and godly living, agreeable to Scriptures, and submitting to the lawful government of Christ’s kingdom.”

In BOCO 6:1 “The children of believers are, through the covenant and by right of birth, noncommuning members of the church. Hence they are entitled to Baptism, and to pastoral oversight, instruction, and government of the church, with a view to their embracing Christ and thus possessing personally all benefits of the covenant.” Another passage from BOCO relates to the question asked at the time of covenant baptism of a child. After several questions are asked of the parents, the congregation is then asked, “Do you as a congregation undertake the responsibility of assisting the parents in the Christian nurture of this child?” We believe the church and parents have a mutual, partnering role in the responsibilities of discipling covenant children. Neither the smaller family nor the larger covenant families are instructed to do that alone.

Fourth, our BOCO 57-5 states, “ Of the number of those who were baptized in infancy as members of the Church of God by birthright, and as heirs of the covenant promises, the Session has examined and approved (call them by name), who come now to assume for themselves the full privileges and responsibilities of their inheritance in the household of faith.” In applying that to specific situations, we have practiced and recommended on many occasions the following procedures. While the decision to admit covenant children to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper (become communing members) belongs to the Session, where applicable parents and the Session should concur that this covenant child believes the Gospel and has a certain understanding along with genuine fruit of a “credible profession.”

Both parents and church are responsible to take seriously the covenant promises of God. This means to nurture and disciple the children with great care, with all the beliefs and hopes that they are among the children of God. During that early process, they are not to be viewed as being outside the church but as having certain rights, privileges, and expectations, such as spelled out in the PCA BOCO.

The church must have an active children and youth ministry. John Calvin suggests that Christian education or the discipling process begins with one’s baptism, which marks the public identification of a child’s belonging to God’s covenant family. They must be taught what that means. Both parents and church have the mutual responsibility to nurture and disciple those precious children and youth, as befits their covenant relation.

In case you’re asked, the church has a crucial role in discipling covenant children, as well as parents. Partnering is a great covenant concept of applying God’s promises. I discovered a magnificent book several months ago. Lewis Schenck, who served as professor at Davidson College for nearly forty years, wrote The Presbyterian Doctrine of Children in the Covenant. I’ll discuss this book in a future issue of Equip for Ministry. For now I read it as a challenge to take God’s covenant promises more seriously where his children are concerned. This will be one of the six books that I would use and recommend for any Christian education course.

Dean Conkel’s lead article “Five Diamonds of Youth Ministry” is timely and extremely appropriate. Local churches, working with the parents where possible, need to evaluate, examine, and draw some strategic conclusions on how to disciple their covenant children. If you are asked if the church is to train and educate the covenant children, the answer is “they must.”

 Charles Dunahoo

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