A few years ago my husband and I began teaching a Bible class of elementary students at our congregation. We gave each child an index card and encouraged them to write down all of their questions about God, the Bible, Christianity, etc. The questions we got back were extremely deep and nuanced. I might add we had been told this was a class of children that didn’t seem to care about learning anything about God at all.
It’s easy to assume that children have no deep spiritual questions because they are usually concrete thinkers. Or that young people with special needs don’t have complex spiritual questions because they struggle with academic work. Or that teens are so obsessed with popular culture that they don’t think about God at all.
After decades of teaching and mentoring children, young people with special needs and teens, I want to assure you nothing is farther from the truth. They have merely had their questions ignored for so long, they’ve stopped asking them at church and home. That doesn’t mean they don’t still have those questions. It just means they are using Google or a secular teacher or author to get answers. Unfortunately, these answers are often wrong and are designed to weaken their faith and encourage them to reject Christianity and God.
It’s critically important we regularly create space for these questions. That we make it safe for them to ask about the things that confuse them. That we take the time to give well thought out, quality answers instead of platitudes that, while the conclusion may be correct, the route to it contains logical fallacies or misinformation. Don’t rush to give answers if you are unsure how to answer a question properly. Ask for a few days to get them the best answer. Use quality apologetic resources (our congregation has a subscription to RightNowMedia everyone can access for free) or ask your minister for help (or a guest appearance!).
Ignoring the big spiritual questions of your students doesn’t make them go away. They aren’t contagious, but are questions most of us have probably had at some point in time. Don’t leave your Bible students to assume secular, anti-Christian answers are correct. Give them the true, godly answers they want and need.