All those people who didn't seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. (Romans 9:29)
a Book thought...
It is telling that English evangelicals gave up believing in the urgent imperative to improve society about the same time that they gave up believing robustly in resurrection and settled for a disembodied heaven instead. (p38 Wright)
a Dave thought...Yesterday Matt Kean preached in our Mothers Day service and gave the challenge to all parents 'don't blame the church if your child is not here in 5 years, if you are not talking with your own children about how to live like Jesus at home'.
Many of us want others to bring up our children in the ways of Jesus but don't actually have the conversations about God or pray with our own siblings as part of our daily lives. I am with Matt on this one, to disciple our own children is the most important thing we can do for them. Praying with them, reading the bible with them, and talking about how we can live a life that reflects Kingdom values is surely worth making time for in our lives. So rather than only teaching our children how to pursue a successful career that will fund everything they want to buy, let's make time for the most important. It seems we all put more effort into potty training our children than talking about Jesus with them, maybe it is because we have to deal with the consequences first hand when our toilet training is unsuccessful.
Just a thought.
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4 comments:
This is so true, the other point to this is that many people wonder why their children dont want to go to church but one of the reasons is that they hear their parents
complain about the church, about their officers about other people and then wonder why on earth their children would not want to go there.
Amen and Amen! I'm so tired of the church being blamed for kids not wanting to attend, when parents don't make church a priority in their lives.
Great Blog Dave - sounded like a great sermon too Matt! :)
yes, but we as the church can not sit back and blame the parents if the child is going "off the rails". we have a very important role to play in developing a child's Christian character and faith. we also need to be able to fill the gaps that some parents are just not able to fill. we as the church need to offer programs to suit the needs of the children we are trying to reach. a lot happens outside the 'family setting' to children to influences what they think (school, friends etc). so yes don't blame the church, but also don't blame the parents
Hi Anonymous,
your comment "we as the church need to offer programs to suit the needs of the children we are trying to reach" assumes that our churches are big enough to run these programs! OR that two or three people in church can run themselves ragger indulging the needs of parents for their children, while they themlseves are oftentimes not invovled. It's just not possible! Not Program but relationship- unless we are a mega church we will never do it better than what is happening in general society. So don't blame the church, the parents or the children? Don't blame anything...just care about the kids!
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