Church is Boring

A couple of weeks ago, I (Jay) was asked to write a very short piece for a youth ministry website. They were putting together a series of blogs that looked at some of the common comments and/or thoughts that youth workers might hear from students throughout the course of their ministry. The purpose of the series was to help youth workers think beyond what their doing now in their ministries and discuss some of the most common issues we're facing. The goal is, that as culture and church begin to collide, we want to try to look ahead for ways to engage and educate students!

I choose the comment, "Church is boring." Please take a minute to read the post, it's pretty short. Then come back for some additional thoughts. Church is Boring.

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Welcome back! I told you it was short.

So you might be thinking, "Okay, that was nice. But that was written for a youth ministry, how does it apply to family life and raising kids?"

Well, it totally relates!

I think one of the biggest traps we as parents fall into is thinking that the church, and perhaps more so the youth ministry, is responsible for the spiritual development of our children. But while the both play a role, neither are or were meant to be so. We stated this before here on the blog, but YOU as Mom and/or Dad are the one most responsible for the spiritual education of your children!

Now that's not to say that if you do everything that you are supposed to your kids will come out on fire for Jesus. Ultimately that depends upon the work of the Spirit. But we as parents have been called to raise up our kids in the nuture and admination of the Lord. We promise to do so when we dedicate or baptize them.

And one of the areas that we need to be sure we are teaching our kids is in the area of church, specifically the weekly, corporate worship gathering. Now I am sure that like us, you have heard your children say, church is boring! And I would say, that perhaps, for very young children, yes church may seem a bit boring. There's the singing, praying, listening, and having to be quiet the whole time...but it doesn't have to be boring.

You see, while I wrote, Church is Boring, for youth workers, I think it is totally applicable for us as parents. We should be teaching our kids the purpose of church, specifically why we go to church. In the post I suggest 5 things that youth workers can do to help rethink and reteach church. I submit these same 5 things to you!

1. Teach your children the purpose for worship and that it’s not for us but for God.
2. Read a book on worship to better understand and practice worship in your own life.
3. Make a search of the Scriptures to understand what worship looked like in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
4. Talk about church and the worship service and why it looks the way it does.
5. Be an example for your children so that they see you worship God with all your heart, mind, and soul.

Now, simply addressing these ideas won't immediately change the idea of church in the context of worship. However, with time, and consistancy in your life, they will begin to see and understand church. in fact, I think the biggest thing we can do as parents is to help our kids understand the importance and need for worship!

- the higham family

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Hi we're Jay & Amy, and we've been married for 19 years and are super blessed to be busy raising our 5 kids; 4 boys and 1 girl. We juggle the adventures of life and ministry and share what we are learning as it relates to marriage, family, raising kids, serving in the church, and chasing after Jesus. Raising a family is hard work, especially in today's culture. But our hope is to encourage you and your family, as we live for the glory of God.

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