Yes and no. I believe a more biblical view recognizes that marriage is God ordained and the children of believers are a blessing and obtain blessings from their parents’ relationship with the Lord. The scriptures clearly teach that parents have been given the responsibility for instructing their children. The church will teach your children, of course, but the primary responsibility of instruction and of providing good teaching opportunities rests with the father. (see Proverbs 13:1; Proverbs 14:1; Deuteronomy 11:19; Psalms 34:11; Psalms 78:5) The church ought to assist fathers in this task by providing solid teaching opportunities and literature, and to guard against false teaching.

So just what ‘programs’ should the local Church provide? I think we all recognize one of the problems with the ‘modern’ church is that it tries to be and do many things—most of which find no support in Scripture. I believe the church needs to major on being the church and the regulative principle may have further application in this regard. Is the church the biblical means whereby believers come together to worship and for teaching? I believe it is! Therefore, in my opinion, extra-biblical programs that tend to divide the church into age-graded special interest splinter groups and that keep families too busy to have quality time together ought to be avoided.

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