One of the most important discipleship responsibilities of any local church is its handling of the children in its care. God commands his people throughout the Scriptures to teach him to their children and demonstrates his love for and care of children. While the first people who will stand before God to give an account for children are the parents of those children, Hillside, as well as any other local church, bears a significant responsibility for what we do with the children God has placed in our care.
Hillside has been on a journey toward biblical literacy (understanding what the bible says and means) for some years now. This has affected our pulpit, our Sunday school and small group curricula, the seminary with which we partner, as well as other things. As we observe the world and see the attacks on young people presented in our current culture, we feel the weight of that. Hillside has undergone quite a bit of change in recent years to point individuals and families toward what God has revealed in his word about himself, about us, and about the gospel of Christ. Taken as a whole, these changes have been graciously blessed by God.
Through much prayer, thought, observation, and conversation the elders have concluded that the next step in biblical literacy and pouring into the lives of the families and children at Hillside is to make changes in the curriculum we utilize for our Wednesday children’s ministry. We believe that AWANA has served our church very well for the years it has been in place, but we will be moving toward Kids4Truth in the future for our Wednesday children’s ministry.
Kids4Truth focuses on Scripture memorization, doctrinal memorization, systematic theology, and apologetics for children while maintaining the gospel as central. In the mind of the elders, this is not a shift away from AWANA because of a problem with the curriculum, rather it is a shift toward Kids4Truth. While it remains the work of the Spirit of God to change hearts, however given the state of secular culture, the rate of deconstruction and apostasy among young people, and the urgency in parents at Hillside to ensure their children are prepared for such challenges, Kids4Truth has become a better fit for our particular local church.
We will host a brief informational meeting after
our worship gathering this coming Sunday (July 28th) in which we
will introduce the Kids4Truth curriculum and invite questions and conversation
about the change. We also intend to speak about this change again briefly during
the upcoming quarterly family meeting (August 4th). As at any time in which there is change, your elders welcome
and even long for your questions, concerns, and conversation as we enter this
next chapter of the children’s ministry at Hillside.
Check out the links and Q&A below. As relevant questions come to us we will add them to the list below.