Pastoral Letters

Classes for Young Christians

June 28, 2015 Author:Pastor Andrew Tan
A new born baby is very lovely. Although a mother may not be able to understand the little noises that her baby makes, these little noises can melt a mother’s heart. Imagine, however, after 10 years, this child can say nothing except make these little baby noises. Should this happen, the mother’s heart will no longer melt but break. If the mother’s child is 5 years old, he must be able to do things expected of a 5 year old. If the mother’s child is 30 years old, that child must be able to do things that are expected of a 30 year old. If not, the mother will be very sad.

In the same way, if you are a one year old Christian, you should have the maturity of a one year old. If you are a five year old Christian, you must have the maturity of a five year old. You should be more mature than a one year old Christian in terms of faithfulness in Bible reading, quality of prayer life, Sunday worship attendance, fervency in serving God, etc. Most importantly, you there should be holiness in life, as demonstrated by not loving the world, holy habits, in the way you talk, self control, etc. My question to you is this: are you growing spiritually? Are you behaving according to your spiritual age? If not, you should feel ashamed and uneasy about yourself.

The church has a responsibility to work hard to help each of you grow spiritually, as Paul says in Col 1:28-29:

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

The church has arranged a course of five lessons, namely, assurance of salvation, assurance of answered prayer, assurance of forgiveness, assurance of victory, and assurance of guidance. These lessons will be taught by leaders of each cell group. The purpose of this course is to help young Christians draw strength from some important promises found in God’s Word, the Bible.

At the same time, these leaders will develop in the young Christians the habit of reading the Bible and praying daily, which is also known as Quiet Time. At the end of the course, hopefully, the young Christian will be able to lead a victorious Christian life. The essence of this course is not accumulating knowledge. Rather, the teacher will teach the student how to lead the victorious Christian life in a practical way.

I will first teach the cell group leaders how they should teach this course. They in turn will teach you. Hopefully, you will one day use this course to teach another young Christian. May we develop generations of disciples, as Paul also once commanded Timothy in 2 Tim 2:2:

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.

The leaders will be arranging a time to take you through this course. It can change your Christian life. Hence, I urge you to set aside time to learn. May you then grow to become a Christian who is filled with the life and likeness of your Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.