Parents you should be at the game on Sunday.

I don’t agree with this article and here are my reasons.

1. The church is not the primary means of discipling children.

If a family is in church every Sunday morning from birth to graduation the church will have approximately 936 hours with the child to disciple them.  That is 52 Sundays for one hour, this time of discipleship is the land of euphoria for us pastors, just ask.  We probably really get about 20 minutes a Sunday, and this would be an average across 18 years and include youth group.  However, if we equip the family to do the discipling they can get 5,634 hours in the birth to 18 years time span.  This is if they spend 10 minutes total a day for 6 days per week talking about Jesus, singing songs, and praying.

The Kingdom of God is bigger than 4 walls and a worship service, and most churches are too worried about Sunday morning to equip the other 6 days.

2. The church needs to move into reality. Blue laws died decades ago, we either realize it and rethink our approach or become even more irrelevant.

3. We must trust that if folks are being discipled, they will make every effort to be there.

Here are some ideas the church can use to move from toward building, supporting, and walking along side families.

1. We must learn to maximize the use of technology.

Technology is such that we can reach our people if we make the effort. Church is no longer a place but a lifestyle, which is what it was in the book of Acts 2:42-47 paraphrased- “they had everything in common, broke bread, and prayed”. Sounds like a group of friends and family to me. Put that in modern context, families at a ball field would be something “in common”.  What if we gave them the tools to do the 10 minutes of scripture and discipling right there?  There are apps and websites that make it totally possible, but it take a shift in thinking and work to make it happen.

2.  Make the most of the opportunities

In recent years I have shifted from going to the hospitals (I still go when the need is there) to going to gyms, ball fields, auditoriums, classrooms, tennis courts, gymnastic events and everything in between. Jesus didn’t wait for them to come to the synagogue, nope he went out. If you are part of a church leadership team and you think your pastor needs to be in the office 30 hours a week to be effective yet you wonder why the church isn’t growing you are the problem.  The model isn’t new, it is a Jesus model, we have just abandoned the method.  What if the women’s group made goodie bags for the kids in their church and their friends to share while they are backstage at the play they are performing in?  Or what if the older adults all showed up together to sit on the sidelines and cheer on the kids from their church?

3. Support the Parents.

As a church we can encourage and resource our parents to do this work, and disciple the parents in the process. Pray for them, tell them they are loved, show up for events without being asked to attend, ask the parents if they need help with transportation to practices with their kids, cook dinner once in a while for a busy family or drop them a gift card.

I know my way of thinking is controversial but ask your people: what would it be like if your church supported you and your family by presence and prayer?   I make an effort to attend my kids (church kids and kids of the community) events every season. I can grumble or I can support. I would rather support the kids and their parents. Just like the person in the hospital that equates the pastor to Jesus, the families equate the pastor to the church.

The good old days are long gone, and if they were really that good why are they gone?  We either adapt or we die.