In the board I visit often and a magazine I read, the principle of separation is commonly discussed.
Don't let your kids go to Sunday school.
Don't let them spend the night at friends' house.
Don't do children's church.
Don't do youth groups.
Don't date.
Don't socialize.
Blah blah blah
I'm on the fence about this one and I will tell you why.
I don't understand why it is okay to leave your children out of such activities, but you teach a class where other parents allow their kids to be separated from them.
Or, some Mom's let their kids go to Awana or whatever, but it is not her job to teach. She is too busy with other things like being a Mom. That's great and all, but if you are going to allow your kids to participate, you should somehow contribute at some point. Don't just leech off their resources.
If you are going to be a teacher, let your kids go to class. If you aren't going to let your kids go to class, don't be a teacher.
Does this make sense?
I've read an article about how the church is no longer a sanctuary. Whose fault is this? I don't know.
Why is the church no longer safe? Because the church isn't taking measures to be sure it will be safe.
There are child molestation policies that can be adopted and put into practice for the sake of the children AND adult.
Preachers aren't being taught how to be Pastors in seminary.
Youth leaders aren't being taught how to properly supervise their kids. They are making out and having sex on youth trips.
Whose job is it to teach these fellas?
I'm so tired of seeing well-intentioned parents getting cranky with fellow Christians about youth groups and classes. If you don't like these things, please move to a church where they do family worship. But, don't complain about it. If you aren't going to move churches, then get involved and help out with the classes your kids are in.
Discuss your concerns with the elders of the church. Don't just talk bad about them. They may not have even considered the possibilities of things going wrong, like you have.
I'm rambling on this, bc like I said, I'm on the fence about it. It just doesn't make sense to me to say one thing and do another.
I'm in one of those positions where I would like to keep my children with me at all times but as the Pastor's wife, I cannot just do that. I can't even keep my 9 month old son with me up by the piano while I play. I would love to just sit in the pew and sing on some Sundays. But, I cannot. I have to trust someone else to hold my son while I bang on the keys. I enjoy playing piano, but I miss my son. It's a tough spot.
I also have been in teaching positions and had parents 'slight' us by not allowing their children to participate (or even show up) after we have spent hours preparing lessons and songs. There's no easy way to do it, it seems.
I just wish that our fellow Christians were more trustworthy, I guess. But, even Satan has seeped his way into the church causing division and heartache.
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Peach,
We don't have a lot of problems like this at our church.......mainly because we do so little with the kids as an official church function.
We think it is fine for a kid to go to a class where MOM is not the teacher......and at the same time, we don't have a nursery! We have two classes for kids........boys 2-11 upstairs, girls 2-11 downstairs.
We have found that simplicity keeps strife far away. We never, as a church, take any group of kids anywhere or do anything with them, BUT the fathers in our church do. We don't look at the church as being the place to go........so you can go and do something else. That's the problem with most places.........too much going on, too much back and forthing, confusion about ages, where kids belong, when are we having pizza, we have 84 bus kids.......now we need a teacher, what should we do with the kids on Wednesday nights?
We have found that since the church is for equipping the saints, that is what we aim for.
The better the dads and moms are equipped, the better off the kids will be. Church is a place of fellowship and learning. If you separate everybody constantly, you lose some of the 'learning' kind of fellowship.
For the most part, our kids are treated just like the adults. Come in, visit, sit down and listen. If we tried to start pleasing kids, we wouldn't have time to equip the saints and witness.
AND, if you are in a church and you hate how they do things and you honk about it........go somewhere else and honk. FIND a church that tickles your ears and your fancies. There's plenty out there that have forgotten what the church is for, go join one of those. Don't stay and complain. Stay and get busy, or go.
And another thing Peach, you're blessed to be able to play the piano. Your kids will look back and remember you doing so and it won't be a bad memory. Think of the things that COULD be a bad memory for your kids........I don't think this will be one of them. I would MUCH rather have a picture of my mom playing piano for a church in my mind, than what I do have from childhood days.
(btw, I'm not against picking up stray lambs for church...)
I send my kids to public school (please don't gasp). I had a weird experience where a homeschool mom had three of her kids in the Sunday school class I taught. My little boy liked to play with her little boy. Every Sunday at the end of Sunday school, my little boy would say, say, "Hey, Luke" (not his real name) "Can you come over to my house to play this afternoon?" and Luke would scowl and say, "No! I'm not allowed to play with you!"
That was weird. I was never sure what to do. They changed churches, so maybe they go to an exclusively homeschool church now, and that would probably be a good thing.
Post a Comment