Equipping the Next Generation – Part 4

In Part 1 of this series, I described how worldviews are formed and the differences that can be found between generations. In Part 2, I explored the impact of education on building a worldview, and in Part 3, I elaborated on the role of parents, caregivers, and Adventist educators on the worldviews of young individuals. In this final installment, I will emphasize the importance of Adventist education in creating a worldview that equips the future generation for eternity.

We are in a worldview crisis, and God is asking us to intentionally shape and equip the next generation. Many parents are reconsidering where they should send their children for school, seeing the rise of humanistic teachings and a societal crisis about gender. Seventh-day Adventist schools offer to teach an alternative, biblical worldview. These children need an unerasable identity emblazoned in their mind.

Psalm 78:4–7 says, “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.”

History provides incredible examples of the power of a strong faith identity. One such example took place after WWII. During the war, many Jewish parents in Europe placed their children in Christian orphanages to save them from the Nazis. They hoped to later be reunited with their children after the war or, if that was not the case, that surviving relatives and friends would find their children. 

After the war, most of the priests and nuns who ran these orphanages were unwilling to release the Jewish children back into the custody of their families. They often denied that they had any Jewish children in residence. During a visit to request the return of these children, a leading rabbi visited their room before they slept. As he walked through the aisles of beds, he chanted the Hebrew words of the Shema. 

One of the first verses that a Jewish child in ancient Israel learned was the Shema Yisrael, part of which is found in Deuteronomy 6:4–5: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” The verse is used as the centerpiece for morning and evening prayer services, and Jewish parents taught their young children to chant the Shema before sleeping.

One by one, as the priest recited the verses, children burst into tears and cried out, “Mama!” Many repeated the words of the Shema. The Christian priests were caught completely by surprise. Fixed into the consciousness of these children, indelibly impressed upon their minds, were those words that confirmed their Jewish identity. The head of the orphanage had no choice but to admit that he was “mistaken” and, thus, these lost children of Israel were able to return to their people and to their Torah. 

What is being emblazoned in the minds of our children and young people? The future of the world depends on how we equip the next generation—how we shape and inform their worldview. From home to school to church, we must do everything we can to teach them to stand for truth when they are on their own, venturing into new schools, universities, and workplaces. Remember, we are not just equipping them for now but rather for eternity!

Author

Lorraine McDonald