Separation of Church and Family

Times have certainly changed since I was a kid. I remember my parents saying the same thing. For example the whole idea of adolescence (the transition from childhood to adulthood) did not even exist for my Eisenhower generation parents. They thought of themselves as adults by the time they were teenagers. I was pretty aware of adolescence and its delay thanks to Gen X movies like “Reality Bites.” My kids just accept it as part of life. I am realizing what a difficult and yet life shaping, stage this is for my two oldest kids. I know I have only a few short, high influence years left to impact them. I was hitting tennis balls with Cole this morning and imagined him leaving for college. He did not see the tears welling up in my eyes as I tortured him with one pattern drill after another.

The church has the average kid about 40 hours a year. The average parent has their kids around 4,000 hours a year. Who do you think will have the most influence? I don’t need to answer that one. So, let me ask another question. How can the church and parents partner in the best way possible to see our kids become healthy, well adjusted, Jesus loving, human beings who live highly fruitful, world changing lives?

Deuteronomy 6 is part of a larger sermon where Moses is telling religious leaders and every member of the various adult generations in his audience, that they are responsible for raising up the next generation in the knowledge of God. He tells the parents to do the heavy lifting of impressing God’s Word on their kids with their example and teaching. But the whole nation was held responsible, according to Moses sermon, for the spiritual well being of the future generations among them.

At Restoration Community Church we will take this very seriously. We plan to create kids and students ministries where parents and volunteers and church leaders all partner up to create a discipleship synergy that optimizes the probability of our kids growing up to love Jesus and desire to be like Him. Please pray God will raise up the leaders and volunteers we will need to see this vision fulfilled.