Our children at church

One priority for my wife and I is our children's spiritual formation.

I recently received a anonymous e-mail saying that if X millions of people followed a certain world religion, then how could it be wrong?

In our multicultural and multi-faith world today, this is an important question to think about.

IMO, forcing people with the sword or gun (or whatever other instrument) to "convert" to any particular religion is wrong. Even if one is convinced that his particular religious faith is ultimately the best of all religions, this does not justify killing others just because their faith is different.

In this way, there needs to be tolerance for other religions. By tolerance, I mean that one needs to accept that others may think differently, yet still respect the dignity of these people and their freedom to think differently. IMO, for any of the major religions to have become a world religion, there has to be at least some truth in them.

However, tolerance doesn't not mean that I believe that all religions are equally true or right. I don't believe that all religions lead to "God" and that as long as one is sincere in following a religion, it doesn't matter which one it is. This doesn't mean that I disrespect someone of a different faith. For I can still maintain a respect for someone, even if I believe that they may be wrong in their belief system.

For these reasons, I am not going to passively sit back and present all the religions to my children, then let them choose which one best fits them. For I don't believe that this serves them well. I want them to be in settings where they positively learn historical Christian doctrine and live Spirit-filled Christian community.

This doesn't mean that I necessarily keep them in "Christian" schools so that they won't have contact with kids of other faiths. For we can't shelter them forever. As Pappy Alain reminds us as we discuss current situations in our children's French school, it's better for them to get exposed to certain situations while they are still under our roof, rather than later on when they may be on their own.

I believe that God wants us to honestly love and care for those "neighbors" whom He has brought into our lives in Paris, no matter what religion they claim to follow. I don't think that someone's becoming a Christian or not should be the grounds on whether we become friends with someone or not. I think that some people feel betrayed by Christians who saw them as evangelism projects and dropped them when they didn't "convert."

One way that our family tries to care for our different neighbors is to pray for their well-being. These prayers can lead to specific neighborly acts as well, depending of specific needs. If they convert or not is not our affair, but God's. But we still want to do good to them.

Getting back to church this morning, I was pleased that our church seemed more child-friendly than usual. One surprise was having a carpet on the right side of the sanctuary in the area where we and some other young familes tend to congregate during service. They also had pillows on the carpet for children to sit on. Liz, one of the faithful children's workers, had a lesson prepared as well as the kids'room organized ahead of time.

In reflecting upon a couple of people whom I know who were in churches that abused their power and influence. I see a pattern of these people not being able to make quick decisions on their feet, as they were trained basically not to think, but rather to accept everything that they were told or taught. I definitely don't want my kids to become this way. I want them to use their minds to think about what they are hearing and being taught at church, at school, at home, etc.

One component of the French church that we've been part of for nearly 7 years now is lively and expressive worship to God. Besides congregational singing, other modes of worship are dance and waving banners of different colors. For young children, especially those who might not understand all the words, it's important to have some non-verbal modes of worship that anyone can participate in. I want our children to enjoy going to weekly worship services, rather than dread going.

Because I believe that the spiritual formation of not just my kids, but other kids as well, is important, I'm helping about every other week with the children's Sunday school class. About when the sermon is about to begin, the children are dismissed to a separate class for them. I consider this time well spent and an important investment in the future of the church.