Children Are A Promise Of Hope For Every Generation

By Linda Wagener, PhD, Associate Dean of Fuller’s School of Psychology

        Each generation has a unique contribution in God’s purposes for human history.  Children have been shaped by the history of their community, are living fully in the present moment, and will reshape their community for the future.  God intends that each generation will extend faith and fullness of life to the next. 

God intends that this generation grasp the centrality of children to his purposes for our time.

From its beginning, Israel was given hope by God in the promise that generations of Abraham’s descendants would make a great nation.

Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you, and make your name great so that you will be a blessing (Gen. 12:1-3).

The covenant between God and Abraham shaped the tradition that children are carriers of hope and reminders of the promise that God has made.  This promise brought into history an attitude of orientation toward the future that reaches fulfillment in the birth of the Messiah and his reign of peace (Is. 9:6).

A Jewish proverb says, “The messiah can be born in every child;” and so it is that the birth of each child is a symbol of life’s future possibilities.  God promises to us that his historical purposes will endure beyond our own time into future generations.

Moltmann[1] explains that children are metaphors of hope for all of God’s people.  With each birth a unique new life begins that is different from any that has existed previously.  Because of this, the future is open to new possibilities.  With new possibility comes another chance for peace and justice.  Future generations are not compelled to repeat the patterns of previous generations but will have a chance to transcend old ways of violence and oppression.  Children are not only a realization of our own hopes, but Moltmann points out that they “also are metaphors of God’s hope for us; God wants us, expects us,… and welcomes us as God’s great love.”

Responding to God requires that we enter seriously into this covenant, taking God’s word to heart, and preparing the next generation to receive God’s promise.

You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead.  Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth

(Dt. 11:18-21).

Faithfulness to God requires that we nurture children by providing them with food, shelter, and medical care so that they can become healthy and productive adults.  It means that we must care for the earth and preserve its resources for the use of future generations.  It also requires that we prepare children to be the instruments of God’s purpose by inviting them to become followers of Christ.  For this, children must be given the resources that they need to be whole physically, psychologically, and spiritually.

In order for children to be ready to receive God’s promises, they must be both educated and mentored so that they can use their gifts for God’s kingdom.  They are significantly poised in the hinge between the past and the future.  From the past they must glean wisdom as the tradition of lessons learned over generations of human history and experience.  In order to meet the future they must develop skills that allow them to solve problems in new ways.  It is the responsibility of the community of adults to provide the tools and opportunities for young people to be educated and mentored in ways that allow them to creatively move into the future.

Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved (Mt. 9: 17).

Children Need Resources

From the beginning, God created earth with sufficient resources for the well-being of humankind (Gen. 1:29).  As caretakers of God’s earthly kingdom, we must develop an attitude of stewardship so that future generations will have the material resources they need to thrive (Gen. 1:28).  Principles of sustainable development must be integrated into policies and programs.  The degradation and loss of environmental resources must be curtailed.  Like their elders, young people need to develop attitudes of respect for the environment and a desire to protect natural resources.  Together we need to develop harmonic lifestyles so that future generations will not face irremediable resource deprivation.  We must safeguard our natural environment, with its diversity of life, its beauty and its resources, all of which enhance the quality of life, for present and future.[2]

Children Need Education

All children, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, or socioeconomic status must have access to and complete high quality primary education that is free and compulsory.  Disparities in secondary education must be eliminated so that all young people have equal opportunity to develop their God-given gifts.  God has demonstrated that the weak, the powerless, the disenfranchised are often those that are chosen to participate in God’s kingdom.  Importantly, God has chosen both men and women as instruments of his Holy purpose.  Therefore, education should aim to develop each child’s personality, talents, and mental and physical abilities to the fullest extent so that each may be ready to contribute their individual gifts when called.  Education should not be the birthright only of the privileged.  Young people across the globe need access to socially and culturally beneficial information from diverse sources.  Likewise, steps should be taken to protect children from materials that have been demonstrated to be harmful such as violence and pornography (Mt. 18.6).[3]

Children Need Mentoring

In addition to ensuring that children develop the skills and competencies that are needed to approach the future, it is essential that this generation pass on values and principles consistent with God’s word.  Children should be fully prepared to live in relationship with God and each other in society.  They should be brought up in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity.  Values are transmitted in the context of caring and committed mentoring relationships with adults.  Children need adults who can be readily available to them and serve as their advocates.  Adults need to give of their time, getting to know and care for children deeply, modeling respect for the child’s parents, her or his own cultural identity, language and values, and for the cultural background and values of others.  Children of minority communities and indigenous populations have the right to enjoy their own culture and to practice their own traditions and language.  They need adult role models who can pass on the cultural traditions that have sustained their people for generations.  Finally, children must have time and opportunity to engage in leisure, play and participation in cultural and artistic activities.[4]

Children Need Healing

 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jer. 29:11).

The insidious nature of sin is passed from generation to generation.  Children who bear wounds from trauma need special care and attention so that they may be healed.  This care includes the devoted daily attention and affection of adults who value each child because of their own intrinsic worth as a child of God.  Adults must model God’s love to children whose primary experiences have been contrary.  Without such care, it is almost certain that children will carry the sin that has been done to them into the future.  Of special concern are children who have been victims of war, violence, and sexual assault.  Children who live in impoverished circumstances without access to basic necessities may be forced to turn to illicit and illegal forms of economic support.  Jesus has made it clear that those who tempt children into sin are cursed (Mt. 18:6).  Without intervention, such children may not recognize themselves as children of God, bearers of hope, and recipients of God’s promise.  Children need to hear about God’s promise to fill their future with hope.  They need to understand that God will restore power where there is none and return order where there is only chaos.  Children need to know that God promises that good lies ahead and that the future is bright because of his Lordship.

Children Need to be Received as Full Members of the Christian Community 

A vital aspect of preparing young children to become participants in the next generation of God’s people is to invite them to become followers of Jesus.  Adults must spend time and effort by going to young people with the agenda of inviting them to become disciples of Christ, grounded in His life and teachings.  Beyond helping children to have a personal faith, adults must also communicate to young people that to be truly Christian, they must have both a personal and a corporate faith.  The local church must be for children a welcoming community that is committed to bringing children fully into the life of the body.  Children need to be participants who have a reciprocal relationship to the community in which they receive, but also give according to their gifts (Prov. 20:29).  Wherever possible, children should be given responsibility that is developmentally appropriate.  Jesus also teaches that children are to be role models to us of the way to receive God’s kingdom (Mt. 18: 3-5).  We are not given the opportunity to serve God because of our knowledge, power, or status, but rather, we are given the opportunity to enter the kingdom simply because we are God’s beloved children.

Building Blocks of Development

In order for children to thrive, they need more than food, water, and medical care.  While those are absolutely critical to sustain life, they are not enough.  Young people also need essential social and emotional resources in order to be prepared to contribute to God’s purposes for their lives.  They need first and foremost to be embedded in relationships with adults who consistently care about them.  Adults must provide care and affection as a model of God’s love.  The same community of caring adults must also pass along the rules and boundaries that God has provided to his people as a means for them to understand how they are to live.  Adults must also get to know children well so that they can identify the gifts and talents of each child.  Finally, adults can help children find the support and opportunities that they need in order to fully develop these gifts.  For one child, it may be that God has gifted her with abilities that will allow her to solve complex medical problems.  Another may be able to bless and soothe his community with gifts of music and storytelling, and still another may harbour the ability to help others solve conflicts.  God’s people require the continual input of new members, each with the gift that they bring to the body as a whole (Rom. 12:6).  Each child has something to bring, but each child needs the adults who know them best to help them discover and nurture their gifts in accordance with God’s purpose.

Conclusion

God’s promises extend beyond the present into future generations.  Because of this, children are the hope of God and of humankind.  Without resources, education, mentoring, healing, and opportunity to participate in the community of God’s people, children will be ill-prepared to receive, understand, and act on God’s purpose.