What is the role of the church in nurturing children?

By Flavia Lanyero

Sunday school is a place where children love to go every Sunday. For some it is a routine imposed on them by their parents, for others it is to sing melodious songs, others is to pray while others are just escorting their older siblings to pray. 

Much as there is a strong desire by many parents to spiritually nurture their children, many drop out of their spiritual path and by the time they are teenagers or adults, the lives they are leading are wanting.  In this country, statistics on child marriage are alarming. Drug abuse is on the rise among children, teenage pregnancies are rampant, children are running away from homes and we are left to ask, what is the role of the church in nurturing children? 

During a symposium organised by World Vision’s Christian Commitments and Church Partnerships programme on 22-Sept- 2015, it emerged that the church needs to reach out to people and especially children in a holistic way – spiritually, physically, socially as well as economically.

 Under the theme: “The role of the church in shaping the future of children”, the key note speaker and also a World Vision Uganda Board Member Fred Mukhwana stressed that the church has a responsibility to invest in children and that the time is now.

“The church has a big aspect of nurturing development of children. It is important that children grow up with values and the church is very strategically positioned to do that. Today we are reminding the church of its divine role especially now when there are many conflicting aspects affecting children,” Mr Mukhwana said.

He further argues that many churches today a spending a lot of time lobbying for many to put up huge commercial or church buildings while others are spending more time looking for a big adult following instead of focusing a big part of their time nurturing children.

The retired Bishop of Mukono Diocese Eria Luzinda also noted that children have been neglected in many churches.

“In many churches, children as seen as an unimportant aspect of church, church leaders and parents should pay attention to children and provide for their needs spiritually, education wise, health and socially,” Retired Bishop Luzinda said.

World Vision’s Church partnership and Christian Commitment programme exists to among other things build and a relationship between children, their community and World Vision staff with God.

As the World Vision Program Manager for Christian Commitments & Church Partnerships  Martin Othieno Radool puts it: “our Christian commitments focus on a number of mandates namely reinforcing our Christian identity, supporting staff to live and work as Christians, partnerships with churches, staff spiritual nurture of children, prayer and inter faith cooperation.”

So far, the programme boosts of children spiritual nurture in a number of churches across the country, trained church leaders to respond to a number of community issues including peace building, restoring hope to the hopeless through the channels of hope programmes as well as equipping children with life skills to enable them overcome life challenges like early marriages, drug abuse among others.