Taking into account current significant ministry challenges, I continue to fine tune several elements of our children’s ministry in my church. While doing this my attention also considers the horizon of our priorities. Increasingly, I am convinced that more attention should be paid to encouraging, equipping and supporting parents in their 24/7 nurturing role with their children. I have always known this to be true. Yet, I am realizing their our current model of church-based age-graded Christian education/children’s ministry enables a coopting of the balance of discipleship from the home to the church campus, where families largely are separated and the generations rarely connect. I think there is a legitimate place for age-graded classes. Yet, I am distressed at the dissonance found in many homes due to over-booked lifestyles and the ease of handing off primary discipleship responsibility to volunteer children’s workers, such as myself.
I am praying that God will give us all wisdom to take a serious look at the lifestyle choices we are making. For me, this has been a long time coming. I understand that some folks are not ready to have the discussion just yet. However, I would be remiss if I did not attempt to encourage families at least to consider the possibilities and benefits of reclaiming the centrality of family life together, not just in terms of the American idea of the nuclear family, but also the larger community in our neighborhoods, and even modeled to some degree in the local church.
Glen Woods 