Family Ministry

These posts are all about incorporating our teaching our children about God in the normal routines and rhythms of life. That is to say - outside of organized church meetings.

It has become fairly common for families to decided to maintain a belief in God and a love for God, but forego the church part of things. I lot of churches are set up to cater to the young family of yesteryear and there is a lot that can be done to make "church" better. Ultimately, if you are in that situation you can try to help makes things better, or... not.

Change can happen from the top-down or from the bottom-up.

Change can be in big sweeping motions or it can come from several micro-adjustments.

We can wait for the things around us to change, or we can change our hearts and minds about what is around us.

Someone…

This worldwide pandemic has certainly changed or strongly affected the way that we do things. This is especially true in how churches meet and relate.

We went almost a year without meeting at all, then we had several months of meeting in some adjusted states. Finally, we got back to normal - almost.

The only thing that hadn't come back to our old Sunday routine at the Utica Church of Christ was what we were doing with the kids - bringing them up to the front for a song and lesson and sending them out to classes during the sermon.

Some perceived a need to get this back going.

We took the step of opening a classroom for monitoring if people wanted to take advantage of it - if their child(ren) were getting antsy and needed to have a place to be a little louder and move around some.

It…

In Part 1 we discussed knowing the reasons why you are meeting with the church and taking the time to communicate those reasons with your children (https://www.uticacoc.com/family/family-ministry/as-you-go-to-church-pt-1).

Again, if the parents don't really think it is important to show up to meet with the church on Sunday, it is probably not happening.

The popular excuse has shifted from, "It is hard to get the family up and going that early on a Sunday morning" to something like "it's hard because my kid thinks church is boring."

This reveals a lot about our attitudes toward the church meeting.

If your child says that they don't like school because it is boring or the teachers mean or some other reason, how do you respond? Most of us see school as very important and even necessary and send them back into the fire.

Times have changed quite a bit. When I was a boy, getting dressed up for church was a thing. Then it turned into looking spiffy on special days like Easter Sunday. Gradually, many churches all across America went lax with their unspoken dress codes - so much so that if I wear a tie and a sport coat, people will make comments or ask questions about why I'm all dressed up.

It's ALL ABOUT THE WHY!

Interested in a 20-minute video on generational differences in the church? Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MQiMWVkgUA

30 years ago dressing nice was important because - you know - "Sunday best." You put on your best clothes for God because He deserves the best of everything you have.

The sentiment nowadays is that God looks at the heart. Anybody can wear fancy clothes, but how committed are those people to the ways of God? Also,…