Occasionally, I'll write on The Gospel Coalition blog. It's nice to have an alternative place to share my heart, and have a broader reach on matters that might be beyond the scope of this blog. While I blog about Faith from time to time on this blog, TGC allows me to go a bit deeper as it's predominantly a theology blog and resource for the church.
Last month I wrote a post titled, Moms With Hands Full Need The Church. The motivation behind the post was my concern for families in the local church. I've noticed a similar trend over the past several years, in every church context I've been in, and that is families being less involved in the local church. And because children are a blessing, I think we as a body (and those of us in leadership) are slow to encourage and correct, though we wouldn't do the same for anyone else if church attendance and participation suddenly dropped and remained dismal.
Of course, any time we call people to a high standard or encourage obedience to scripture, the accusation of legalism is not far behind. Our obedience doesn't save us, Jesus saves us! Yes, amen, and true. But God's word encourages and commands many things of us, and to ignore them or to take them lightly in the name of grace is not honouring to God or good for us.
Full disclosure: the week my post was published on TGC, we missed church.
There are reasons that I will miss church, and unfortunately for me, they are frequent. Sick children who may be contagious and traveling are among such reasons, and we do find ourselves away from church around 25% of the time as a result.
Because getting to church can be impossible for many families due to sickness, post-partum healing, or travel, we don't allow for other things to take us away from worshiping with our church family on Sundays (or other church involvement). Extra-curricular activities that fall on Sunday mornings, won't be ones our kids will participate in. Grumpy toddlers will miss naps when naptime is during worship time. If one member is sick, we won't all miss church. One parent will stay home with the sick child(ren) and the healthy ones will go to church. There are so many things that families could let stand in the way of corporate worship and participation in the local church. We must fight against the busy schedules and packed calendars and easy excuses!
Head over to The Gospel Coalition blog to read my article!
xo
Last month I wrote a post titled, Moms With Hands Full Need The Church. The motivation behind the post was my concern for families in the local church. I've noticed a similar trend over the past several years, in every church context I've been in, and that is families being less involved in the local church. And because children are a blessing, I think we as a body (and those of us in leadership) are slow to encourage and correct, though we wouldn't do the same for anyone else if church attendance and participation suddenly dropped and remained dismal.
Of course, any time we call people to a high standard or encourage obedience to scripture, the accusation of legalism is not far behind. Our obedience doesn't save us, Jesus saves us! Yes, amen, and true. But God's word encourages and commands many things of us, and to ignore them or to take them lightly in the name of grace is not honouring to God or good for us.
Full disclosure: the week my post was published on TGC, we missed church.
There are reasons that I will miss church, and unfortunately for me, they are frequent. Sick children who may be contagious and traveling are among such reasons, and we do find ourselves away from church around 25% of the time as a result.
Because getting to church can be impossible for many families due to sickness, post-partum healing, or travel, we don't allow for other things to take us away from worshiping with our church family on Sundays (or other church involvement). Extra-curricular activities that fall on Sunday mornings, won't be ones our kids will participate in. Grumpy toddlers will miss naps when naptime is during worship time. If one member is sick, we won't all miss church. One parent will stay home with the sick child(ren) and the healthy ones will go to church. There are so many things that families could let stand in the way of corporate worship and participation in the local church. We must fight against the busy schedules and packed calendars and easy excuses!
Head over to The Gospel Coalition blog to read my article!
xo
Great article! Thank you! When our 4 year old son was between the ages of 1 and 2, I found myself so overwhelmed by getting-up and going to church on Sunday mornings. I was so stressed! Before he was born I had been heavily involved and had been on our church staff; in fact, I was serving for the first year and a half of his life! Even so, I found myself repeatedly lamenting "What is the point?!" The Lord graciously opened my eyes to the fact that church, on a Sunday morning, would have to be redefined for me. No, I would not be sitting in the service from start to finish, singing every song, while taking notes on the sermon, BUT I would be with other believers! I would fellowship! I needed to let go of MY idea of church on a Sunday morning. As I paced around the church with our little one, I found that, inevitably, I'd run into someone and have an edifying conversation, or a good laugh, or encourage someone, or talk to a first time visitor or an otherwise "fringe" attender. Either way, the Lord has used this season to bless me on Sunday mornings in unexpected ways. Now, Sunday mornings with our 4 year old and almost 2 year old daughter are so much more relaxed. Naps are a disaster, but we are with the body! And we are teaching our children that Sundays are the Lord's days (obviously, every day is His), but on Sunday we gather together with others and worship Him in a particular way. Also, my husband and I were very convicted by Hebrews 10:24-25! :)
ReplyDelete-Roxana
I loooove your words and your experience Roxana. the edifying conversations, the opportunity to encourage someone else, and definitely the chance to chat with more "fringe" attenders! thank you so much for sharing!
DeleteRead this article and loved it. (Sorry about all the negative Nancy's who were ungracious in their comments!) So much has changed for us in the last 6 months, one of the biggest being church involvement. Parenthood demands SO much from us, and yes, it's is probably the biggest and most important ministry in my life now, but that doesn't mean that's it. And you're so right, we can't be exempt from God's calling on us as believers. Yes, he is sooo gracious and understanding, but we can't use our busyness or circumstances to shirk our responsibilities in reaching out to the lost and serving other believers. We have to do what we can, and be faithful. God's word is clear on tithing - we are supposed to always be faithful in giving a portion of our money to the Lord's work, trusting he will provide. Even if we don't make X amount of money, we are supposed to give. Isn't it the same with serving in church? Serving and giving isn't supposed to be easy. It's sacrificial, and it's supposed to cost us something.
ReplyDeleteI hope that makes sense...haha!
Thanks again for sharing.
wow, great link and comparison to tithing! love your heart, Hanna! xo
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