Sunday School and Its Mission for the Church (1970)
Source: Sunday School Magazine, vol. 1, no. 1 (Apr 1947).
This piece from the first volume of the Sunday School magazine by Fr Ibrahim Luka reflects the Sunday School movement’s distinctive emphasis on the holistic raising of children. As Henry al-Khuli states in the opening editorial, the Sunday School movement’s central conviction is that God must be part of all aspects of life, including marriage and family life.
Sunday School and Its Mission for the Church
“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt.19: 14)
In Jesus Christ, everyone has found an answer to a life that thirsts after life, whatever their circumstances or social class. In Him, parents found a deep well of blessing for their little children, so they brought their children for Him to put His hand and bless them. The disciples saw this, according to their human way of thinking, as behaviour that contradicted the honour and respect that what was due to their Master. The disciples rebuked the children, but Jesus looked at them and said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
In this saying of Jesus to His disciples is a declaration of the high regard with which heaven regards childhood, and therefore, a message from heaven to the Church about its duty to care for children.[1]wājib al-ihtimām bi-l-ṭufūla, lit. the duty to care for childhood. It is a message whose importance the Church ought to heed, and to be diligent and faithful in carrying it out completely, without any deficiency.
***
And why?
Because a good childhood is the foundation of a good, successful and fruitful life. In order to gain a powerful generation of men, the Church must first gain a powerful generation of youth: good manhood [2]al-rajūla, presumably this is meant in the sense of potency, vigour and virility, and not necessarily masculinity, since Fr Ibrahim seems to be speaking about both boys and girls in this article. only comes from good childhood, because youth is the time for instilling morals and preparing strong men.
Many people say that if God granted us the vital energy[3]quwwa ḥayawiyya, evidently referring to the sexual instinct only for reproduction, then why would God arrange for this energy to appear at an age
— 4 —
earlier than the age of marriage? The answer to this question is that, God arranged in His wisdom for this energy to begin taking shape before the age appropriate for marriage so that there would be a period of moral struggle — a struggle of the soul against the soul — so that this struggle could serve as a golden opportunity to build up strong morals and true manhood and to enrich life with essential qualities, in order that [one’s] life might be useful, fruitful and successful.
The course of one’s life hangs upon the result of this moral struggle: victory leading to strong manhood, and defeat leading to a weak and emaciated manhood. Strong manhood, is a peaceful, fruitful and successful life, but weak manhood is a miserable, failed and idle life.
At the age of eighty-five, Caleb the son of Jephunneh said to Joshua: “I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in.” Why? “For I have wholly followed the Lord my God.”[4]Jos 14:11 and 14:8
Because he was faithful to the Lord his God in his youth, Caleb — not only in his manhood, but even in his old age — was ready for warfare and battle.
And Joseph, when he stood before Pharaoh and advised him to choose a wise and strong man to take up the responsibility of saving the people from the disaster which was about to befall them, Pharaoh looked at those about him and said, “Can we find anyone like this man, in whom the Spirit of God abides?”[5]Gen 41:38 Pharaoh said this because he saw the stamp of manhood drawn by Joseph’s victory on his forehead when he was a youth and courageously resisted the wicked woman, saying, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”[6]Gen 39:9
Some people, in their manhood, resemble Caleb or Joseph: strong, active, fruitful and productive, enjoying a calm, stable, quiet and successful life. These are the ones who realised the value of the moral struggle during their youth, and so fought their desires until they overcame them, resisting them as heroes, triumphing over them.
There are others who did not value this precious, golden opportunity, and who so lived recklessly and irresponsibly as youth. As a result, they are compelled against their will to pay the price in their manhood; their manhood becomes weak, destroyed and miserable, repeating those bitter words uttered by Job and one of his friends, “You make me reap the sins of my youth”, and “his bones are full of the sins of his youth.”[7]Job 13:26; 20:11
The foundation of a good youth is a good adolescence. The adolescent stage is one of transformation, and decisions about one’s desired direction for the young adulthood. Young adulthood will be [what it is] according to the directions taken during adolescence.
Experience has demonstrated that whenever we start to care for our children earlier, during childhood and adolescence, providing them with good sexual education
— 5 —
Page 6 is misprinted and contains part of a different article
— meaning that during their childhood, they have someone who takes care that they are raised well — that if they are surrounded in the future by cruel temptations that overcome them and push off the correct path, a little effort spent with them is enough to bring them back from their error. And vice versa …
For this reason, intellectuals have always put great stock in childhood, considering it to be the foundation upon which one’s entire future is built. There is an influential saying by one of the renowned men of the Catholic Church, “Give me the child from birth to the age of seven, and I guarantee you that in his future life, he will be as you want him to be.”[8]The saying is popularly attributed to Ignatius of Loyola, the renowned Catholic in question.
And this reveals the ignorance in which so many people live, who childhood as a time for spoiling, pampering, and recklessness. Those who do this commit a major crime against their offspring, and against the society around them.
There is no service we can offer our children and the society around them like a serious care exerted for the innocent childhood which God has entrusted to our hands; a care in which we are fulfilling the mission Christ gave to the Church: “Let the little children come to me.”
***
Here, a question arises: how should we care for children, adolescents and youth?
The answer to the question is as follows:
The first thing we ought to take care about is setting a good example — a good example as parents and as teachers. There is no point giving advice or rebuking if our practical example is not preaching and guiding them. How many lives are destroyed because of the reckless behaviours fathers and mothers fall into, becoming a stumbling block for their sons and daughters? We ought to remember that a child, from birth, is like a camera which takes in and records: whatever he takes in and records during childhood, he will follow in his future, till the end of his life.
Next, we must take care about supervision: supervising of boys and girls in their comings and goings — where they spend their time, the amusements they get up to in their leisure time, and especially who their friends are. Friends are an important factor in the direction of one’s life, as it is written in the Bible, “Bad company corrupts good habits.” [9]1 Cor 15:33
The correct and beneficial [sort of] supervision is that which comes about through the relationship and friendship of parents with their children. This is the kind of supervision that protects them without annoying them, this is the kind of supervision that brings forth successful, agreeable results.
Along with setting an example and supervision, we need to put vigorous effort into providing our children with moral instruction,
— 7 —
sexual education and physical education, and above all else: spiritual instruction. Spiritual instruction is the corner stone for building good, strong morals.
There is a particular aspect of spiritual instruction to which we should devote special care, and this is to make the Holy Bible the constitution of their lives. To whatever extent we present the message of the Bible to [our] boys and girls, feeding their minds with its teachings and proclamations, we are thereby protecting their lives in the future from evils and stumbling blocks. When St Paul considered the pure and chaste life of Timothy, he attributed it to a root cause: “from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation.”[10]2 Tim 3:15
Blessed are we, if we can raise the coming generation to know God from their childhood, so that each one of them can say in their manhood, “O God, You have taught me from my youth; and to this day I declare Your wondrous works. Now also when I am old and grey-headed, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come.” (Ps. 71: 17, 18)
This is the mission of Sunday School to the Church: to bring up children, teenagers and youth to know God in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Bible. Therefore, Sunday School is performing Church’s most important task, upon which all her hopes are centred: preparing an upright generation for her. This is a mission worthy of all encouragement, and of our prayers that God may bless it.
— 8 —
Notes:
| ↑1 | wājib al-ihtimām bi-l-ṭufūla, lit. the duty to care for childhood. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | al-rajūla, presumably this is meant in the sense of potency, vigour and virility, and not necessarily masculinity, since Fr Ibrahim seems to be speaking about both boys and girls in this article. |
| ↑3 | quwwa ḥayawiyya, evidently referring to the sexual instinct |
| ↑4 | Jos 14:11 and 14:8 |
| ↑5 | Gen 41:38 |
| ↑6 | Gen 39:9 |
| ↑7 | Job 13:26; 20:11 |
| ↑8 | The saying is popularly attributed to Ignatius of Loyola, the renowned Catholic in question. |
| ↑9 | 1 Cor 15:33 |
| ↑10 | 2 Tim 3:15 |
How to cite this text (Chicago/Turabian):
Sunday School and Its Mission for the Church” [Madāris al-’āḥad wa risālat-ha lil-kanīsa], Sunday School Magazine 1, no. 1 (April 1947): 4–8. Translated by Lucy Amin.in Archive of Contemporary Coptic Orthodox Theology. Sydney, NSW: St Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College. https://accot.stcyrils.edu.au/il-ssch/.
(For more information, see Citation Guidelines)
Related: