As we go forward in establishing church schools we shall find a work to be done for the children in places where it has been thought a school could not be maintained. As far as possible, all our children should have the privilege of a Christian education. To provide this we must sometimes establish home church schools. It would be well if several families in a neighborhood would unite to employ a humble, God-fearing teacher to give to the parents that help that is needed in educating their children. This will be a great blessing to many isolated groups of Sabbathkeepers, and a plan more pleasing to the Lord than that which has been sometimes followed, of sending young children away from their homes to attend one of our larger schools.
(CT 158.1)
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Our small companies of Sabbathkeepers are needed to hold up the light before their neighbors; and the children are needed in their homes, where they may be a help to their parents when the hours of study are ended. The well-ordered Christian home, where young children can have parental discipline that is after the Lord’s order, is the best place for them.
(CT 158.2)
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The tender years of childhood are years of heavy responsibility for fathers and mothers. Parents have a sacred duty to perform in teaching their children to help bear the burdens of the home, to be content with plain, simple food, and neat, inexpensive dress. The requirements of the parents should always be reasonable; kindness should be expressed, not by foolish indulgence, but by wise direction. Parents are to teach their children pleasantly, without scolding or faultfinding, seeking to bind the hearts of the little ones to them by silken cords of love. Let all, fathers and mothers, teachers, elder brothers and sisters, become an educating force to strengthen every spiritual interest and to bring into the home and the school life a wholesome atmosphere, which will help the younger children to grow up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
(CT 158.3)
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Our children are the Lord’s property; they have been bought with a price. This thought should be the mainspring of our labors for them. The most successful method of securing their salvation and of keeping them out of the way of temptation is to instruct them constantly in the word of God. And as parents become learners with their children, they will find their own growth in grace and in a knowledge of the truth more rapid. Unbelief will disappear; faith and activity will increase; assurance and confidence will deepen as they thus follow on to know the Lord. Their prayers will undergo a transformation, becoming more earnest and sincere. Christ is the head of His church, and unfailing dependence of His people; He will give the needed grace to those who seek Him for wisdom and instruction.
(CT 159.1)
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God would have us consider these things in their sacred importance. It is the privilege of brothers and sisters and parents to co-operate in teaching the children how to drink the gladness of Christ’s life by learning to follow His example. To the older children in these isolated families I will say: It is not necessary that all should drop the home responsibilities to attend our boarding schools, in order to obtain a fitting for service. Remember that right in the home there is a work to do for the Master. In the home there are younger children to be instructed, and thus relieve the mother’s burdens.
(CT 159.2)
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Let the elder members of the family bear in mind that this part of the Lord’s vineyard needs to be faithfully cultivated, and resolve that they will put forth their best capabilities to make home attractive and to deal patiently and wisely with the younger children. There are young persons in our homes whom the Lord has qualified to give to others the knowledge they have gained. Let these strive to keep spiritual lessons fresh in mind. And while they are teaching they can also be studying. Thus they may be learners while teaching. New ideas will come to them, and the hours of study will be a decided pleasure as well as profit.
(CT 160.1)
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I speak to fathers and mothers: You can be educators in your homes; you can be spiritual missionary agencies. Let fathers and mothers feel their need of being home missionaries, the need of keeping the atmosphere of the home free from the influence of unkind and hasty speech, the need of making the home a place where angels of God can come in and bless and give success to the efforts put forth.
(CT 160.2)
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Let parents unite in providing a place for the daily instruction of their children, choosing as teacher one who is apt to teach, and who, as a consecrated servant of Christ, will increase in knowledge while imparting instruction. The teacher who has consecrated herself to the service of God will be able to do a definite work in missionary service and will instruct the children in the same lines.
(CT 160.3)
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