Response to the "Christian Education Resolution by T. C. Pinckney and Bruce N. Shortt to the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention"

By Emily A. Row

On April 26, 2004, T. C. Pinkney and Bruce Shortt submitted a Christian Education Resolution for consideration at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. If adopted, the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention would encourage all officers and members of the SBC and its churches to "remove their children from the government schools" and "to provide all of their children with Christian alternatives to government school education."

The resolution by Pinckney and Shortt quotes a statistic from the 2002 report of the SBC Council on Family life that "88% of the children raised in evangelical homes leave church at the age of 18, never to return." [1] They also imply that removing Southern Baptist children from the "godless" worldview of the public school system will reduce the number of high-school graduates leaving the church. Eugene Roehlkepartain of the Search Institute has done considerable research into the factors contributing to development of life-shaping faith among children and adolescents. His research indicates that a number of factors including opportunities for giving and service along with a nurturing congregational environment contribute to continued involvement in congregational life after high-school graduation. Further, his research indicates that a climate where questions and dialogue are encouraged, rather than an atmosphere of unified thought is essential to the development of this life-shaping faith. [2] Roehlkepartain notes that he has "never seen any evidence that public schools are to blame for kids dropping out of church." [3]

Rightly, the resolution makes note that, "training to be a faithful witness should be a vital part of a Christian child's education." By definition training involves both instruction and practice. It must be both theoretical and practical. There is no more viable location for children to obtain experience in faithful witnessing than in public schools. Removing them from the public school system simply because of a differing worldview teaches children to disassociate from anyone outside of the Christian faith. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul writes to the church at Corinth warning them not to associate with the immoral brother or sister . He also emphatically states that this does not mean the Corinthians should avoid "people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters." He writes that these people need to see the living Christ revealed in the lives of believers.

In providing reasoning for their resolution, Pinckney and Shortt interpret Matthew 28:19-20 as a command to make "disciples of our children." Christ called us not only to make disciples of our children, but to make disciples of all nations. Let us train our children to be faithful witnesses of Christ in all situations and surroundings that we may truly teach them to observe everything Christ has commanded.

For more information on the research related to faith development in children and adolescents, please see:

The Attitudes & Needs of Religious Youth Workers: http://www.searchinstitute.org/congregations/ResearchReportsArticles.html

Effective Christian Education : http://www.searchinstitute.org/congregations/ResearchReportsArticles.html

[1] Pinckney Shortt Christian Education Resolution, page 3.

[2] Effective Christian Education A Research Project of Search Institute, Minneapolis, March 1990; The Teaching Church by Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, Abingdon Press, May 1993.

[3] Interview with Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, May 6, 2004.