As usual, I didn't understand everything that the Sunday School teacher was saying to me when she told me about the PTA, but I understood "enough" to be able to tell her that we would be attending the event and that I would bring food for Sungjae. I thought it was a Childrens' Ministry Spring Party so you can imagine my surprise when the parents were ushered into the meeting room while the kids played in another and there were no signs of a "party" or even lunch! :)
We started off by singing one of the praise songs that the kids had sung during the special song portion of the service that morning. R-san sat on the floor playing the keyboard (you can see the top of her head behind the desks) while one of the teachers held up the words to the song. They have lots of these book-type things that they write the lyrics on for the kids' worship songs. One teacher always has to hold it up and flip the pages during the song. In the small churches I attended while growing up, we always used flip charts. The lettering was bigger, you had more space to decorate it and make it more kid friendly too, and no one had to hold it up and flip pages. Maybe it's a storage issue, although I'm not sure that storing lots of those big books saves any more space than a big flip charts. I wonder why they don't use powerpoint? Anyway, I digress...
Pastor Haitaka then gave a message that was linked to his sermon that morning based on 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness". They were both for parents on godly parenting and I so wish we could have understood it! As a verse for dads, he shared Ephesians 6:4, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord" and for moms, he shared Titus 2:4-5, "Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God". To emphasize the importance of love in the teamwork of parenting, he shared 1 Corinthians 16:14 "Do everything in love". He also spoke about what a blessing it was that 10 new children attended the special Children's Easter Party (link). One thing that I really appreciated was his emphasis on the parents being the primary teachers for their children in raising them up to be godly adults. God commanded parents to instruct their children in His ways at all times, not Sunday School teachers or Childrens' / Youth pastors. As Pastor Haitaka very rightly emphasized, Sunday School teachers and pastors are in a supporting role. The primary "Sunday School" is in the home and secondly at church.
Lunch did eventually come (I thought the heavily pregnant mom next to me was going to pass out!) and we all had one sandwich and one pastry each. I got a fried fish sandwich and I was surprised that the fish wasn't processed filet-o-fish type fish but actual fish that was battered and fried. Everyone else was surprised that I was surprised and that I'd never had it before. :) Japanese people seem to really like their toppings / sauces so this sandwich was very liberally spread with - I think - tartar sauce. I'm so glad it wasn't a bunch of mayonnaise! After the big meeting & lunch was over, we all split up into groups by class. In Juhee's class there are 3 3-year-old girls, which is nice for the girls and for the teachers too. :)
Please pray for the Sunday School staff as they put in so much effort in trying to make it fun for the kids so that they will continue to come and grow in the Word. Please pray that we will be able to build good, strong relationships with the other parents so that we can be mutually encouraged in a country where Christian parents and children are very very few in number. Please pray that we will be able to pray for each other both separately and together. Please pray that we peruse Scripture constantly to teach, rebuke, correct and train our kids in righteousness while at the same time exemplifying and pouring out God's love and patience to them as we strive to be godly parents.
I couldn't resist... A picture of my men as we were leaving that day. :)
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