Ever have someone tell you they were going to start working out? They’re all hyped up. They say they are committed with a plan to achieve their goal. They bought the equipment and the new shoes and say they will meet you at your workout spot. They come once and then you don’t see them until the next week. After a month, they average an hour a week.
Can you imagine if a teenager told their coach they only had one hour a week to come to practice? What would the coach tell them? The coach would tell them to come back when they were serious about the game.
If someone says they are in love but can only squeeze that person into their schedule an hour a week, you don’t have to be Dr. Phil to determine it’s not “true love.”
One hour a week is just not enough commitment to certain things.
Especially when it comes to our faith journey.
The reality is that most kids in churches today only spend an hour a week in discipleship at church. Less than 10% of church-going families pray or read the Bible at home outside of mealtime prayer.
Is this communicating to our children that God is number one in our lives? That we are fully committed to Him as our glorious King? Are we really taking our relationship with God seriously?
With over half of our kids walking away from their home churches as they grow into adults, the answer is clear: they aren’t experiencing a faith that is life-altering.
There is a huge disconnect between what they experience on Sunday mornings and what our children see the rest of the week in our homes.
When we send our kids to Sunday school and they hear all these great stories about how people from the Bible trusted in God and how God came through for them revealing His power and they go home and don’t experience the living Word read and practiced at home, they don’t see how God is making a difference through answered prayers. It’s no wonder they grow up and grow out of faith.
If the only exposure to faith happens sitting in a pew, our kids are not going to take our faith seriously. They may view your faith as something that is real to you, but they don’t see it as something real, true and worth living for in their own lives.
Many of us spend time in personal prayer and devotion before they wake up, but if we want to really connect their hearts to God’s, we have to involve them, lead them, teach them, explain to them the things of God, etc.
It’s the time, living out our faith, in between Sundays that matters most.
What can we do in between Sundays?
1. Connect our kid’s hearts to God’s. Pray together and keep a record of God’s answered prayers. Pray in the car if you have to! Depending on your kids’ ages, find an appropriate story Bible if they are young. If they are older, you can read the Bible and discuss it by asking questions. You could even develop the routine of reading the Bible at dinner while their mouths are full! Help them realize His great love for us. Pray with them/read a devotion with them while they are snuggled down in bed. They become a captive audience in the car and when they are in bed. {Resources: The Bible app by You Version has “plans” that you can read. If your church subscribes to RightNow Media, use it!}
2. Serve. Put your faith into action. How does your faith affect your family’s life? Joshua said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” How can you serve and give? How do you sacrifice for God? Sacrifice is the assessment of genuine faith. Kids actually want to serve. They want their faith to make an impact. They ultimately think, “If this isn’t going to impact me or the people around me, why bother, why waste my time?” (This doesn’t mean they will always be eager to serve.) Kids that grow up putting their faith into action, grow up seeing how God works through them. Not to mention, this develops them into men and women who will be accustomed to and enthusiastic for serving God as adults. They will grow into more of what they are experiencing as kids and teens. Are they experiencing how to love, serve, give of themselves or are they constantly being inundated with pleasurables this world offers (video games, movies, sports, fun, etc.)
Written by Jonathan
Rev. Jonathan Cronkhite has been serving youth and families in full time
ministry for the last 23 years. With the heart of a pastor, he encourages and equips families to have Homes Devoted, through conferences, workshops, coaching and writing. Married to Carrie for 22 years, they have 5 children, run a home school co-op, drama club and invite 50 people over once a month for airsoft battles.
