10/08/2026
Yesterday was Children’s Day.
We celebrated our children, prayed for them, took pictures, shared beautiful messages, and thanked God for the gift of childhood.
But beyond the celebration, I think there is another important conversation we need to have: what exactly are we doing to shape the children God has placed in our care?
I remember a young boy in the Children’s Department who was naturally quiet. He rarely volunteered to speak, preferred to stay in the background, and would sometimes allow other children to do things for him.
But the Children’s Department gave him something beyond what could be taught in a textbook.
Every Sunday, he came for Sunday school. He learned the Word of God, listened to Bible stories, answered questions, and gradually began to understand the difference between right and wrong. But it did not stop at Sunday school.
There were rehearsals, group activities, assignments, meetings and different responsibilities. At certain periods, children were appointed to positions within the department—president, secretary and other leadership roles.
For a child, these may look like ordinary church activities.
But they are actually lessons about life.
A child who is given responsibility learns that responsibility comes with accountability. A child who is appointed to lead learns that leadership is not about superiority but service.
A child who serves as a secretary begins to understand organisation and responsibility. A child who is entrusted with a task learns that people can depend on them.
Even the little things matter.
Being encouraged to arrive early for Sunday school can gradually teach punctuality. Being taught to wait for your turn teaches patience. Being corrected when you lie helps shape your conscience. Being taught to apologise when you offend someone teaches accountability.
Working with other children teaches cooperation. Learning to respect teachers and leaders introduces a child to authority and social responsibility.
And this is why the Children’s Department should never be treated as merely a place where we keep children occupied while adults are in church.
It is a training ground.
Sunday school lays a spiritual and moral foundation through the Word of God, while the activities of the Children’s Department provide opportunities for children to practise those values in real situations.
A child may not understand politics in the sophisticated sense of the word, but being given responsibilities, serving in appointed positions, working with others and participating in an organised department gives that child an early understanding of structure, leadership, responsibility and collective life.
The child may not realise it yet, but these little experiences can influence how he or she eventually behaves in school, at work, in leadership positions and even in society.
Most importantly, these experiences can help shape the conscience.
And perhaps that is one of the greatest responsibilities we have as a church.
We should not only teach children how to recite Scripture. We should help them understand how the principles of Scripture should influence the way they treat people, handle responsibility, respond to authority, deal with failure, exercise leadership and make decisions when nobody is watching.
Children do not only need prayers for their future.
They need intentional formation today.
So, as we celebrate our children, let us also celebrate and strengthen the systems that help to raise them.
Let us support our Sunday school teachers. Let us take the Children’s Department seriously. Let us encourage their activities, competitions, rehearsals, appointments and responsibilities.
Because sometimes, what looks like “just children's activity” to an adult may be the very experience through which a child learns discipline, develops confidence, discovers leadership and begins to understand the kind of person God wants them to become.
We are not merely raising children for the future. We are shaping people for life.
