http://www.gatheringbythebay.org/resources/texts/What_About_Kids_In_Organic_Church.pdf
"One of the most frequently asked questions we receive about organic churches is, “What do you do with children?” It seems that without segregating the kids from the adults we don’t know what to do"...
enjoy! let me know your thoughts
I seriously appreciated this article. As someone who doesn't have kids the whole kid issue has been one that I empathized with and was ready to head forth in helping in, but obviously not one that was in the forefront of my mind. (although I feel slightly convicted that it wasn't considering its a main concern of our community)
ReplyDeleteLove this part
“when a child receives Jesus he
doesn’t receive a Jr.-sized Holy Spirit and a Jesus action figure to play with. He receives the fullpower of the Spirit of God and is no less spiritual than any adult"
God's allowing the kids to grow in an amazing enviornment. I am so stinkin stoked for the next 10 years. haha. :)
Yes and amen to this article, couldn't have said it any better myself. If we don't want to raise consumer Christians let's integrate them into the body young.
ReplyDeleteI was blessed that my parents were already aware of this idea 25 years ago. Even though I went to Sunday school at various periods of time, I also led worship with my Dad as young as age 7, sat in on their home fellowship/prayer nights at a young age, had a time where my Dad wouldn't let us go to youth group because he didn't want us dumbed down or influenced by consumer Christian teenagers, and had my parents allow me to go on my first mission trip to Russia when I was 15 (even though they wouldn't let me go anywhere else alone...but that was DHS =).
Absolutely that has formed my faith, that I was encouraged that my faith and experiences in the body of Christ mattered at a young age.
My experience also in youth group since I was an "innocent sheltered home-schooler" was that we had a lot of bad influences in youth group and kids just socialized at youth group. But that's because we compartmentalized and entertain them, not because teenagers are bad people.
ReplyDeleteMy life changed when I went on my first mission trip and realized that my life has purpose in the Kingdom of God. The kids I knew that stayed in the faith and didn't fall away are the ones who caught this vision (especially for missions and serving the needy) and started serving, being part of the body, doing something with their lives etc. No amount of cool/experiential worship, youth camps, relateable sermons etc did that for any of the kids I grew up with.
I can honestly say I've been in the segregated youth culture my whole childhood.
ReplyDeleteAnd all I can remember by way of life-lessons I learned through experiencing relationships with others - and usually the adults.
I don't remember the sermons, and barely remember the songs. I remember the struggle the youth leaders had engaging our attention, and they went to extreme lengths to make everything exciting.
I remember the emotional manipulation of youth camp. I remember the fallacious Pascal's Wager, and the off-putting idea that if I didn't speak in tongues, I was not a Christian. (I had friends who pretended, but I couldn't lie like that.)
But I remember the youth pastors who cared for us as individuals. I remember the elderly couple who mentored us, and helped me understand difficult concepts.