Recently I found myself eating dinner at McDonald’s in Frankfort. On one end of the restaurant was a typical McDonald’s birthday party with the balloons, games, etc. At the appropriate moment in the midst of the mayhem, one of the parents brought in the birthday cake all lit up. The group of twenty-plus kids and parents all chimed in with “Happy Birthday to You”. I was amazed to hear them sing all four lines of the song exactly like the first one. It was as if they had only heard the first line, but not the rest of the song. (Go ahead, sing it to yourself and see what I mean.) I was astonished. How could they not know “Happy Birthday to You”? Aren’t we all just ‘pre-programmed’ with certain songs like that one?
As I sat in stunned silence, the answer hit me. Like most everything in life, they didn’t know the song because nobody taught it to them. How often do we assume that people should “just know things”? Sadly, this is true even within the church. Biblical and spiritual illiteracy rates are soaring in America. We can no longer assume that the adults that are involved at Woodford “just know things”. That’s why your leadership in our Adult Education Ministry is so important. We support, no we demand, strong programs for our children and our youth – do we feel the same for the adults that are in our seats every week? Or do we assume they “just know things”?
Thank you for your ministry!
