Thursday, May 22, 2014
Thinking about raising our kids in a church family...
One of the healthiest ways for a church to raise faithful children is to celebrate milestones. Lots of churches do this well. We do at Southern Hills. I love public church celebrations of milestones. Here are a few great things I have seen done at different churches.
Celebrate the births. I mean publicly and not just an announcement. I love to see new babies prayed over by their church family. I love to see the parents and extended family prayed over.
Celebrate the graduating Kindergartners. Celebrate the First Grade graduates who have learned to read. Give them a Bible from their church family. Pray over them. Include their families in this.
Do it again for Middle School or Junior High graduations. Make a big deal for your High School grads. Senior Sunday. Celebration lunch. Pray over them.
Announce the honors some way. Put the academic, music, and athletic awards in the bulletin.
And make baptism announcements the biggest deal. Pray over them. Have special blessings said over them. If they are baptized outside the assembly, show the video. Interview the new Christian. Record it.
Let's celebrate weddings better. Not just with showers and attendance at ceremonies. Let's have public blessings and prayer for engagements. Before the weddings. When they get back from the honeymoon.
Lots of public praise. Lots of prayer. Lots of celebration.
They are our family. We are proud of them.
And do your part as an individual. Look for things to compliment our kids on. Mail the clippings to them with a note of encouragement. Show up at a game, or a concert.
And never, ever, say a bad word about another school, team, or person. Be bold enough to confront church members who yell negative and hurtful things. You know, in the same way you confront them about other sins. Some of our congregations have multiple schools represented. Be aware of that.
Above all, celebrate the spiritual. Remind them how happy you are to see God working in their life.
It is hard to leave a family that loves you and shows it.
Make a difference in a young person. Forever.
Celebrate the births. I mean publicly and not just an announcement. I love to see new babies prayed over by their church family. I love to see the parents and extended family prayed over.
Celebrate the graduating Kindergartners. Celebrate the First Grade graduates who have learned to read. Give them a Bible from their church family. Pray over them. Include their families in this.
Do it again for Middle School or Junior High graduations. Make a big deal for your High School grads. Senior Sunday. Celebration lunch. Pray over them.
Announce the honors some way. Put the academic, music, and athletic awards in the bulletin.
And make baptism announcements the biggest deal. Pray over them. Have special blessings said over them. If they are baptized outside the assembly, show the video. Interview the new Christian. Record it.
Let's celebrate weddings better. Not just with showers and attendance at ceremonies. Let's have public blessings and prayer for engagements. Before the weddings. When they get back from the honeymoon.
Lots of public praise. Lots of prayer. Lots of celebration.
They are our family. We are proud of them.
And do your part as an individual. Look for things to compliment our kids on. Mail the clippings to them with a note of encouragement. Show up at a game, or a concert.
And never, ever, say a bad word about another school, team, or person. Be bold enough to confront church members who yell negative and hurtful things. You know, in the same way you confront them about other sins. Some of our congregations have multiple schools represented. Be aware of that.
Above all, celebrate the spiritual. Remind them how happy you are to see God working in their life.
It is hard to leave a family that loves you and shows it.
Make a difference in a young person. Forever.
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It would be nice to see things like you suggest. Some of us who grew up cofC feel like we missed out on everything. No blessings, no confirmations and no celebrations of any type were the norm. Also, the youth never got the real minister in Sunday school. He went to teach the old people out of a book in their class that anyone could have led. The argument was that since the denominations did it, the cofC couldn't.
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# posted by 
: 5:37 PM PDT
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