When our kids are in high school they study world religions (public school). Although we'd studied them at home, somehow school put a different twist on them. School gave them all equal standing as religions. They don't talk about faith. They don't talk about who "God" is to these people of different faiths. Faith and religion aren't neccessarily the same thing.
When God used to walk with Adam in the cool of the day I'm guessing that something relational was happening. All through scripture, God is relational. When Jesus became a man, a teacher, that relational element was something he was looking to reclaim. He also came with a job to do.
In Deutermony 11: 18-20 when the Israelites are admonished to fix God's words in their hearts and minds and teach them to their children and talk about them when they rise and when they lay down and when they sit at home, when they walk along the road...you have to be around each other to do this. Maybe it's for teachers too, but getting up, lying down, sitting home is definately for parents... There's a relational learning element here and a "call".
Alot of churches have reached out to children with or without their parents. But for better or for worse, you can't separate them. Not really... The parent in me resents institutions that usurp, undermine or compete with the role of parent. I also resent institutions who use children to get to their adults. Yet, I value the relationships my kids have with other adults that have given them things I couldn't and have influenced them for good. I value the people I've met through my kids and the relationships that have grown because of them. I have a huge amount of respect for kids who have broken away from abusive situations and gone after life despite it all. Chances are there were adults in their lives who helped them do that.
Pushing away all the clutter, the goal is to love God with everything you have, love people the way God does, to engage culture in a way that honors the God you love - no matter how old you are.
"How?" is the big question. Does it matter how? Is one way better than another or are they just different, the way people are different, the way relationships are different, the way generations and cultures are different?
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I find that with the homeschool book I'm using for history. It presents all the world religions very matter-of-factly. I'm really glad Jason and I are here to interpret the meanings of the different religions for our kids as we would have them understand them.
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