Preschoolers—the three to five-year-olds in the church, still babylike in some ways and yet growing up in others. A mysterious group of seemingly boundless energy, inquisitiveness, enthusiasm, and emotion, with the overarching trait that looms above it all: stupidity. At least, that’s the impression you’d receive if you wandered into any of the countless preschool programs or Sunday schools in churches these days.
I’ve been convinced for years that our view of young children is directly connected to the abortion industry. In the abortion industry, we see language that dehumanizes children in the womb, such as “they don’t feel pain,” “they aren’t conscious,” or simply, “they aren’t human beings.” This industry has a long history of generating trillions of dollars in the U.S. alone and has become a very powerful and influential voice to millions of people.
One of my daughters had a tongue tie when she was an infant. The doctor strapped her down without pain medication and cut the lip tie. He told me that her screams of pain were not really screams of pain and that this hurt me more than it hurt her. You see, the idea is that babies are not fully like you or me. They do not experience life the way you do. They cannot even feel pain or fear the way you do. They are not just inexperienced or young human beings; they are more like subhuman creatures.
When children are toddlers, you’ll hear people say all sorts of things (often in front of their children) about how they don’t understand such and such a thing, or they’re clueless about this or that. They laugh and joke about this. They assume that because a child is still learning and cannot verbalize or demonstrate every new concept, they simply don’t understand any of what’s going on. It’s as though toddlers are out of it and oblivious–on the level of a wild animal.
Toddlers, however, are constantly absorbing information about the world around them. They are much more aware of things than either you or I. How do I know this? Because they have to be in order to learn about themselves, language, relationships, society, reality, right behaviors, attitudes, and so much more. They are taking in and processing everything, as if it’s their full-time job… because, well, it is.
A child’s brain develops at a rate of 700-1,000 neurons per second in early childhood (infant to 2 years old).[1] Your average, depending on your age as an adult, is about 700 new neurons a day. Those neurons, for the most part, connect over time due to a child’s experiences and learning environment. This means they are primed for learning. They are aching for information so that they can understand this world.
Toddlers are highly sensitive to the information they encounter, and as parents, pastors, and teachers, we should seize this crucial time to teach our children about their need for a relationship with Jesus Christ. We should be embedding this into their brains’ “architecture.” Their brains are forming connections, and these connections should be consistently linked to the Christian faith. When you do this, you are weaving Christ into their minds and making Him an integral part of their existence. You are normalizing their faith and growing that seed.
In church, this means that Sunday school time with toddlers should involve memorizing short passages of Scripture and learning the history of salvation— teaching them not only stories but also how the historical characters all point to Christ.
By the time children are four, they should be taught the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, Bible verses found throughout Scripture, and the main stories of the Bible. They can and should be able to identify who Jesus Christ is, that there are three persons in one God, that they are sinful, what repentance means, and about baptism and communion—all of it. They should be memorizing the order of creation, the books of the Bible, and even the order of the stories (you can find these put to music!).
Toddlers are capable. Their mental and spiritual foundation will be laid during these early years, whether we do anything about it or not, so let’s do something about it. Let’s join in helping them build their foundation on Christ.
