How Young is too Young to Teach your Child Faith?

My fiancé Robin's parents own a nursery school where I work part time. It's a distinctly Christian school, including a daily Bible story and prayer before snack and meal times. Nevertheless, we get children of many religions all the time.

For instance, I once stepped on a spider and a little Indian boy said, "You should not kill the spider--that could be your grandfather!" This young man had no-doubt been engrained with his culture's teaching of reincarnation.

Also, a couple days ago, I was helping with lunch when the mother of one child came in to drop off a more religiously acceptable food choice. The teacher asked her, "Does that necklace he wears have any sort of meaning?"

"Oh yes," replied the mother--then she got a little shy, "I guess it's supposed to ward off evil spirits." She went on to tell about how when her son was a baby, he had all sorts of sicknesses. Then they took him to "a spiritual man" who said that he should wear some sort of black beaded jewelry to keep the evil spirits away. So they got him that necklace, which he never takes off, and he's had good health ever since.

Stories like these teach me two things: First, we should realize that children are capable of learning and practicing spiritual truths at very young ages. So if you want your child to grow up in the ways of the one true God, then you shouldn't be afraid to let them actively participate in your faith. Educate them, demonstrate your faith, and teach them the reasons for your beliefs. They may not have a fully functioning capacity for logic and reason just yet, but children are very good at observing things to see if they're actually believable. And second, I've learned that some children from other religions are more outspoken about their family's faith than Christian children! This is a sad reality that should support my case for teaching Christian beliefs to your kids.

Now for the personal testimony:

I was basically raised in church. From the time I was two weeks old, I was atteding on a weekly basis. I had no choice in the matter, and my parents allowed me to be an active participant in experiencing God.

As a baby, I was diagnosed with a heart murmer. This should have been life-threatening, but my parents took me to the pastor for prayer and the Lord miraculously healed me! I was only a few months old at the time. I probably didn't have a clue what was going on, but I can imagine that my spirit was very much aware of God's presence even at that young age.

For that matter, my mother would sing worship songs to the Lord instead of lullabies as she rocked me to sleep. And as I got older, she dealt with the "monsters" in my room through prayer, which worked! (I'll write more about this at a later date).

By the time I was five years old, I was telling my neighborhood friends about how much Jesus loved them and inviting them to church. At six, I regularly prayed with sincere tears for my brother who had gone off to California to play music in bars and live a wild life (within a year, he came back to Christ). At seven, I had started fasting on occasion; and at eight, I was baptized in water.

The list goes on. By no means was I a perfect person all my life--in fact, I messed up a lot. But when I reached the age of about seventeen, my upbringing caught up with me. The rich spiritual seeds my parents planted in me early on began to bear fruit.

So how young should you start teaching your faith to your kids? Start when they're in the womb! If you wait, they won't have a response for the friend who thinks his grandfather is a spider or that his necklace will keep away evil spirits. Let your children shine the light of Christ to their friends as you cultivate their spiritul growth from birth!

God bless!
--Art--