Milk & Meat -

Age Appropriate Faithfulness

“Then little children were brought to Him for Him to lay his hands on them and pray. But the disciples scolded those who brought them. But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:13-14 (NET)

Donvale Christian College is a school for students from Prep Grade to Year 12. Some students are as young as 4 years and 8 months old when they start in Prep. Our oldest graduating students each year are already over 19 years old. Our mission, as a Christian school for Christian families, is to provide Christian education in a nurturing environment, partnering with families to educate and equip their children for life.  

Every lesson, activity and experience of each student in our school should bear this out, where it is evident that Christ is at our centre, the Bible is relied upon as God’s word given to us, the bedrock for all that we teach and do, and we are God’s community seeking to bring Him glory every day. 

This common thread of education at Donvale Christian College does not imply that all lessons should have the same flavour, look similar or even draw the same conclusions.  That would be intellectually unfaithful, spiritually immature, and disobedient to our call to see each student as a unique image bearer of God.

The reality is that for our Prep students, their experience of school is not the same as it is for our Year 6 students. For our Year 6 students, their experience of school is not the same as it is for our Year 7 students. For our Year 7 students, their experience of school is not the same as it is for our Year 12 students. For our Year 12 students, their experience of school is not the same as it is for our Prep students. Nor should these experiences be.

God’s call on us is to do as Jesus would do. Jesus welcomed children; he gave them equal access and social standing. He told those who tried to prevent them being seen or heard that our faith needs to show the hallmarks of the child - humble, obedient, deeply focused to learn more, and revelling in the simplicity of being in relationship with God. 

“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.

You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:11-14 (NIV)

But being child-like is not being childish. The writer to the Hebrews tears his hair out in exasperation as he reflects on the lack of spiritual maturity the receivers of his letter have.  Sticking to the first practices (the “drinking of milk”) will not grow the believer in their understanding of righteous living and will not equip them to pass on wisdom and insights to those in their care. Rather, it will be wrestling with complexities, living in the tensions a life in Christ presents to us (“chewing on meat”) that will grow the believer in maturity.

When the youngest children enter the school, they are blessed by the spiritual input of their home (family), their church and the school. Some are still coming to terms with managing their own personal ablutions. When the oldest students graduate from our school, they are young adults. They have journeyed through the tween-age years, the early and late teenage years and they are old enough to vote, marry and have a mortgage. They have made a decision, one way or the other, on the claims of Jesus on their lives; many have found an alternative place of worship to the one where their family first brought them.

We trust that they love God, love others and love themselves in that order; but, we know (through painful experience) that sometimes love is absent or damaged, the order is mixed up and the remaining decades of their life after they finish school may provide challenges (and excitements) they cannot even dream of as they leave the protection of school.

As they grow up, so too must our daily practices as a school. We surround them with Christ-like love (that is our mission) and we seek for their maturity. We hope to teach them to wrestle with complexity.

“What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.” Matthew 13:3-8 (MSG)

We trust that God will take the “seeds” (sown in good faith) and cause them to grow into strong and resilient “trees”.  The strongest of those trees will only be so because they have endured hardship; they can only endure hardship if their establishment was faithfully done, in good soil, in an environment that causes them the best growth.  

Just enough water, not too much. Differing heat and water in different seasons. Protection from being trampled on. Care, pruning and tending. Being left alone to add strength through exposure to the elements. Growing a plant is not about constant fussing and over-supervision. Much of its growth happens through acts of trust, faith in God’s plan and design.

It's the same with the school being age-appropriate in its faithfulness to its mission. In different seasons (of a child’s education), different types of care. When young and less mature, close and involved supervision and partnership.  

As students mature, honouring this with teaching them, mentoring them, discipling them in “meat-eating”. Helping them to grow in strength, resilience and God-focus as they face an increased awareness of the complexities of life. That’s not “less Christian”, that’s not “slipping”; rather, it’s a “more Christ-like”, being “anchored on solid rock” – the rock that Jesus gives us. 

Christ wasn’t slipping, being less himself, when he discipled Peter using tough teaching, hard to handle lessons (remember Peter failed repeatedly). No, He was being age-appropriate. Peter had matured in his faith, he had to chew on gristly meat and understand more deeply, wrestle even longer (almost to utter exhaustion) and grow as a stronger, more independent believer. 

That’s what we, at Donvale Christian College, seek to do as partners with parents and churches through the long journey of 13 years of Primary and Secondary schooling. 

Learning to be more and more Christ-like, more and more anchored to God’s faithfulness in our lives.

Shalom.