{"id":296,"date":"2012-01-17T09:21:58","date_gmt":"2012-01-17T14:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/faithkids\/?p=296"},"modified":"2014-07-22T11:09:04","modified_gmt":"2014-07-22T15:09:04","slug":"helping-your-kids-overcome-boredom-at-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/faithkids\/helping-your-kids-overcome-boredom-at-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping Your Kids Overcome Boredom at Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

When parents pick their children up from Sunday school, the most common question that I hear come rolling off parents\u2019 lips is, \u201cDid you have fun?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Think about that for a minute.\u00a0 I know that most parents probably don\u2019t think deeply about that question, nor do I think that parents who ask that intend to inculcate their child with discontentment; but why choose that question over something like, \u201cWhat did you learn about the Bible today?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This question seems to be a subtle reflection of adults\u2019 perception of church.\u00a0 What makes a church service worthwhile for us?\u00a0 Is it whether or not the sermon was entertaining?\u00a0 Whether the music piqued our emotions?\u00a0 Whether we felt convicted, refreshed, or \u201cfed\u201d?\u00a0 If this attitude is a seed in the current adult generations, it will be a harvest for the Evil One in the youthful generation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ironic, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 We worry that if our children don\u2019t find church entertaining or enjoyable, they will walk away from the faith, when really this mentality only builds a consumer mindset in our children which will encourage our kids to walk away from church the moment it ceases to meet their needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the solution to this problem?\u00a0 I believe it is fourfold:<\/span><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Fear the Lord–not your kids!<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t live in fear of your children being bored, walking away from Christianity, or disliking you.\u00a0 As soon as you begin to fear these things more than you fear standing before God for how you raised your children, you will subtly begin to view your child\u2019s spiritual nurture through the lens of entertainment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you picture standing before Jesus someday as He asks you about how you raised your children, and the first question He asks you is:\u00a0 \u201cDid you make Me fun?\u201d\u00a0 You would probably be stunned!\u00a0 Maybe you would think it was a joke.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nothing about that question rings true to the way Jesus called people to Himself.\u00a0 He pulled no punches.\u00a0 He told people, \u201cDon\u2019t follow me if you\u2019re going to be a wimp about it. I expect you to die for Me\u201d (that\u2019s my paraphrase).\u00a0 Yet, often, we treat discipleship with our children as something that needs to be \u201cfun.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If we teach our children that they are training for a spiritual war when they come to church, it won\u2019t matter as much if the \u201cdebriefing\u201d is fun or not.\u00a0 Do your children understand that following Jesus is supposed to be hard?<\/span><\/p>\n

So, you say, what\u2019s supposed to attract my children to Jesus? The answer is: you are! Your life is supposed to be winsome and full of the Holy Spirit so that your kids will want to know Christ. No Sunday school gimmick can replace a parent\u2019s faithful life, nor can it make up for shabby one.<\/span><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Cultivate a heart of gratefulness in yourself and in your child.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Maybe your child\u2019s Sunday mornings are not, reportedly, scintillating. What can you do with those complaints or concerns?<\/span><\/p>\n

If the concerns are regarding a lack of content or teaching, then you can always kindly mention your concern to the teacher.\u00a0 Ask questions rather than making accusations.\u00a0 Help your brothers and sisters in the church (lovingly, of course) to become better at teaching, if possible.\u00a0 There may be nothing you can do, in which case you can still help your child be grateful that his teacher obviously cares enough about him to give an hour on Sunday to spend time with him, even if the teaching is not very deep.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the concerns are simply that the class is boring, then acknowledge your child\u2019s frustration.\u00a0 Let him know that sometimes you struggle with the same thing as an adult, but that part of being mature is working to get as much good out of biblical teaching as possible.\u00a0 Then help your child find things to be thankful for about the morning at church (freedom to go, health to go, ability to hear the Bible read, people who care about the Lord and your child, etc.)<\/span><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Teach your kids that growing in Christ is work.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

When was the last time, do you think, that your pastor was \u201cfed\u201d through something he heard taught at church?\u00a0 Probably not recently.\u00a0 The secret to a mature believer\u2019s spiritual growth is that he has learned to feed himself.\u00a0 Your child may not be a \u201cmature believer,\u201d but you can challenge her to listen for one Bible truth to tell you afterward.\u00a0 Teach her that it is work to grow in the knowledge of Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Teach your kids to be \u201cmissionaries\u201d at church.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

When your kids come to church, do they leave complaining that no one was their friend?\u00a0 Or do they leave talking about the children they were able to befriend?\u00a0 Teach your kids to be \u201con-mission\u201d at church.\u00a0 Role-play different scenarios in the car on the way to church. Say, \u201cOkay, I\u2019m a new kid in Sunday school that you\u2019ve never talked to before.\u00a0 What would you say to me?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When the great preacher Charles Spurgeon was a teenager, he made friends with an old woman who served as cook at his school.\u00a0 She was self-taught in the things of Christ, and she had taught herself so well that she knew far more than the preacher in town!\u00a0 Both she and Spurgeon found the man\u2019s sermons uninspiring.\u00a0 Spurgeon once asked her, \u201cWhy do you go to such a place?\u00a0 It must be better to stay at home than to hear such stuff.\u201d\u00a0 Her reply is sadly foreign to too many of us:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI like to go out to worship even if I get nothing by going.\u00a0 You see a hen sometimes scratching all over a heap of rubbish to try to find some corn; she does not get any, but it shows that she is looking for it, and using the means to get it, and then, too, the exercise warms her.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

May the Lord bless as you seek to free your children from the fear of church-house boredom!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We worry that if our children don\u2019t find church entertaining or enjoyable, they will walk away from the faith, when really this mentality only builds a consumer mindset in our children which will encourage our kids to walk away from church the moment it ceases to meet their needs. What\u2019s the solution to this problem?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[41,33],"tags":[38,43,6607],"yoast_head":"\nHelping Your Kids Overcome Boredom at Church - Faith Kids Connection<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/faithkids\/helping-your-kids-overcome-boredom-at-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Helping Your Kids Overcome Boredom at Church - Faith Kids Connection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We worry that if our children don\u2019t find church entertaining or enjoyable, they will walk away from the faith, when really this mentality only builds a consumer mindset in our children which will encourage our kids to walk away from church the moment it ceases to meet their needs. 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