Godly Training Bears Good Fruit

Parents who teach their children from an early age often realize the good fruit of their labors. Dorian, a youth in Peru, South America, gave his first student talk in the Theocratic Ministry School at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses when he was four. When he started secular school, he was able to explain to his teacher and his classmates from the Bible why he did not celebrate Christmas.

Recently, when he was five, Dorian was asked to speak to the entire school​—some 500 students—​on what he believed about Father’s Day. He prepared a ten-minute talk on the subject “The Responsibilities of a Father,” based on the Bible text at Ephesians 6:4. At the conclusion of the talk, he said, “Instead of celebrating Father’s Day once a year, children should respect and obey their parents every day.”

In 1943 the Theocratic Ministry School, which is designed to improve public-speaking ability for both young and old, became one of the weekly meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Since then it has provided Bible-based training that supplements the instruction that parents are urged to provide for their children.​—Proverbs 22:6.

In November 2005, at the age of six, Simon, a youth in Switzerland, had his first Bible-reading assignment in the Theocratic Ministry School. About a year later, he was interviewed on the program at a large assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses. What kind of attitude toward spiritual matters had he developed?

Simon loves attending Christian meetings, as is shown by his efforts not to miss one, even when he is tired. Moreover, he accompanies family members in the ministry. Each month he places between 30 and 50 copies of the Watchtower and Awake! magazines with people of all ages. Moreover, he often speaks to his father about the Bible and encourages him to accompany family members to meetings.

Without a doubt, parents who raise their children “in the discipline and mental-regulating of Jehovah” receive much joy when their children respond and bear righteous fruit.​—Ephesians 6:4; James 3:17, 18.

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Dorian at school

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Simon at the Kingdom Hall