When I first started blogging I was using our real names. Then I realized, for our family, it wasn't the best choice. Mainly because our last name is the title of our family blog. Therefore, knowing our first names made it really easy for the 'crazies' out there to hunt us down. (And yes, once I wrote about how much I dislike Dell and I got a comment from some Dell guy saying he tried to look us up--yikes!) Here are a couple of articles about security if you want to read more.
Blogging Basics (see #4)
I Keep Safe
I've read that your husband is a children's minister. Does he have any tips for parents to reinforce what their kids are learning at church? When we ask our son what he learned he says, "Look at the sheet in my bag."
JD writes...
"As a Christian parent I've asked myself the same question. As a Minister of Children I've struggled with having the question answered in families I see every week. The reason it's been a struggle is because it's the wrong question to ask. Right intentions, YES! Right direction, YES!
But the sentence is backwards and to understand it we need to look at two key things...the word 'reinforce' and the 'somewhere-along-the-way-the-church-has-gotten-it-wrong-therefore-families-have-gotten-it-wrong'.
If you've ever seen concrete being poured for a slab, a sidewalk, or a bridge, you know that steel rebar is used to reinforce the structure, but it hasn't always been that way. When concrete was first used it was just concrete. But what people noticed was it's life span was not very long. By adding the steel the lifespan of the concrete was multiplied exponentially because the steel reinforced the concrete. The steel was the support structure. Now let's go back to that question...
'Does he have any tips for parents to reinforce what their kids are learning at church?' Who's the steel and who's the concrete? This question is asked with the preconceived notion that the church is the concrete (the main structure) and the parents are the steel (the support system). But if you look at God's Word you'll find that parents are suppose to be 'training their children' (Prov. 22:6) and 'teaching the commandments' (Deut. 6:6-7) while the church is there to 'prepare the people for service' (Eph 4:12). In God's kingdom, the parents are called to be the concrete and the church is only the steel reinforcement. So the better question would be what can the CHURCH do to reinforce what is being taught by PARENTS. OUCH!!!!!!!!
Somewhere along the way we've believed the lie that if you are 'raised in church' then you'll be okay in life therefore we've placed the burden on ministries and programs to spiritually raise our kids...no wonder teens are leaving the church in droves right now (some statistics say as much as 88% never come back to church after the age of 18). So what does this mean?
It means I am held accountable for teaching my daughter and I can't teach what I do not know. Deut. 6:6-7...'These commandments that I give to you today are to be upon YOUR hearts'...I must know what God wants and what he requires of me so I must get the Bible out of the drawer, take it off the nightstand and actually open it up at a time other than church service, Christmas, or Easter. Secondly, I can't teach what I'm not living out myself. It's like telling your kid not to yell and then yelling at the quarterback who just threw 3 picks on Sunday night to loose the game for your favorite team. Guess what, your kids is going to be a yeller like you! James 1:22-don't just listen to God's Word and do nothing, do what it says....LIVE IT OUT, then let the church reinforce it!"
Want to see how our church is trying to change the paradigm? Go to Growing Graduates on Oct. 4th (the launch date).
What are you having for dinner tonight?
Wednesday nights we head to church for dinner. Tonight we are having roast beef and LilE is having pizza.
What book are you reading right now?
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp
What are your future family plans?
When JD and I first married we planned to have four children. Three years of seminary and a cross country move/new jobs didn't allow us to have an early start on those four children. When the timing was finally right for us, it did not come easy. My first pregnancy ended with a miscarriage at 6 1/2 weeks. Praise the Lord, one year later LilE was born! Our plan was to have our second child two years later. Obviously, this is not what the Lord has planned for us. We are learning day by day to trust His plan, knowing that it is MUCH better than our own.
KLee, thanks for sharing. We too longed for more children but oh! the blessing we have in our sweet Casiday.
ReplyDeleteI love Wednesday night dinners at church!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate JD's heart giving his answer. Thanks for finding the balance in challenging and encouraging parents!
Great tips! From another KLee.
ReplyDeleteAnother think that might be helpful in "reinforcing what your child learns at church" would be to ask the children's minister or Sunday School teachers what lessons or Bible stories are coming up. That way you can use the time you have with your children to prepare them even more for what they will be hearing about at church.
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