Seedtime in the Church: The Nursery

TO THE WORLD OUTSIDE the Church, early childhood has become a prominent area of attention. As one writer has said:

We are seeing a groundswell of opinion which says that to be effective any program must begin with young children—younger than we thought. Sociologists, economists, political leaders, community leaders, and labor and business leaders are now joining the educators and other social scientists in this new trend. The focal point has moved steadily downward—from adolescence to childhood and now to early childhood, which extends from primary grades down through kindergarten to children of three and four [Rose Mukerji, “Roots in Early Childhood, for Continuous Learning,” Young Children, September, 1965].

Several years ago Head Start programs were set up to help the underprivileged child before he reaches school age. But even three years of age was found not to be early enough; deprivation had begun in very early childhood. Hence in 1967 President Johnson set up a “Task Force on Early Childhood Education” to show what could be done in prevention for infants and toddlers.

So while the public has come to recognize the need for reaching children early but has difficulty finding a way to do so, the Church has the child from the very beginning easily accessible to its influence and care. The contrast has to be completed by the admission that the Church typically is unaware of, and unresponsive to, this unusual advantage it possessess. The witness to this is the kind of teaching it provides. The problem is not that the teachers lack zeal or Christian love but that most churches seem to take the opposite view from that of the church that hired a professional for the nursery class “because it is so important.”

In a few churches, teaching in the nursery class is largely babysitting. But most evangelical churches err in the other direction. From their program one might imagine that unless preschoolers are given the great truths of the faith, memorize the leading salvation verses, and hear a multitude of Bible stories, it may be forever too late! These churches appear to be feverishly absolving themselves of any charge of wasted time.

Yet the time is wasted after all. Worse yet, the teaching is frequently harmful. Since young children are not operating in neutral gear, whatever is done has some effect on them. Babysitting may at least give children pleasant associations with churchgoing. But forced feeding of spiritual food years beyond their digestive ability is dangerous. Many children have become bored with words far beyond their understanding and have early learned to turn off and tune out Christian teaching. They may thus form a habit that will endure and in future years bring grief and frustration to some earnest man of God pouring out his heart in the pulpit to an unresponsive congregation of people churched from childhood. Yes, churched, and completely passive, requiring a spiritual earthquake to jar them.

To set up a memorization program for children two and three years of age that includes the Lord’s Prayer and the Twenty-third Psalm demonstrates one of two things: either the leaders do not know the level of understanding of the child, or they think that if they hasten to give him these treasures, even though he cannot understand them, he will later have the Word when he needs it. In rare cases the child may retain the words, if sufficiently overlearned, until the time when he can grasp the meaning. However, educational psychology has shown that meaningless material is forgotten quickly, that what is learned has to be used to be retained. Such teaching therefore usually is a waste of energy. If it takes the place of spiritual truth the child could grasp and make part of his living, it is depriving him of normal spiritual growth. If it makes the child proud, or uses him as an object to feed the pride of parents or teachers, it is unchristian.

Much help is available for church leaders who are eager to make the early years count for the Lord. They can give attention to the preparation of their teachers, to the curriculum used, and to the environment they provide. But preceding these concerns, probably, should come the education of the whole church. Many a nursery teacher’s morale is low because the church thinks her work of little value. Parents often feel free to bring the children late, pick them up early, walk into the nursery class oblivious to the effect on easily distracted children, or stay to chat with other adults as though nothing of importance were occurring.

If a church were to take seriously the potential it has in its grasp, it could help teachers of small children attain a higher level of preparation. With so many local junior colleges and teachers’ colleges, with such an increase in “continuing education” evening courses for adults, many preschool teachers could prepare through a professional course. Would the church be prepared to pay for the tuition and books?

Another answer is for a church to take pains to see that the nursery teacher, especially if there is only one, is sent to conventions where preschool workshops are held. The teacher might also consult a local professionally trained nursery school or kindergarten teacher.

As for curricula, Christian emphases at the nursery level are adequately presented by the evangelical publishers of Sunday-school materials. Publishers, aware of the inadequate background of lay teachers, write to help them grasp the principles upon which they should proceed, as well as to suggest definite activities and materials. But visits to randomly selected evangelical churches will quickly reveal that nursery teachers are not following the materials the church has secured for them, perhaps because an uninformed zeal to “teach the Word” overcomes them.

Although a teacher can carry on a good nursery class in a pew, if necessary, any church that has a vision of the potential of this spiritual seedtime will take thought as to the environment in which small children develop their early spiritual feelings and concepts. To group twos with fives is to combine an unmanageably wide scope of maturation levels; inevitably some children will be pushed, some crippled in growth. The room the children use will not be a dreary, drafty kitchen but the sunniest, most attractive place possible, with space to move. Every effort will be made both to safeguard physical health and to nurture spiritual growth at the child’s own pace, using experiences he can appreciate and words that can be made meaningful.

Such nurture is not an easy task. Spiritual growth deals with intangibles and is slow to show outwardly in a young child. Attitudes that are being built are often difficult to pinpoint in behavior. But it was God who established this pattern of growth. Adults responsible for the care of children must have faith in a nurturing process that is grounded in sound understanding of the way God made children. The harvest will come in due time.—MARY LE BAR, professor of Christian education, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois.

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