So, I know I've talked about this a little, but I'm going to get some things off my chest. I'm being bold, but hey, that's me. If you don't like it go read this.
First, as you know we have had a somewhat rough journey in trying to find a church home. We've done very traditional baptist, non-denom, very contemporary baptist, church plant, new church, old church, red church, blue church. You get the point. We've pretty much tried them all. ANYWAY, we recently found our "perfect" church home. We love it. Yes, there are some little things that (if it were MINE) I'd change, but it's mostly "cosmetic" stuff. We have really started plugging in and are ready to be part of whatever we can. I'm singing on the praise team and Scotty is playing on the softball team. Our girls love their classes and we just love the atmosphere there.
When we first started looking around in Conway we were a bit overwhelmed because, if you don't know, there are a TON of churches in Conway! We had a few goals that we set out, but the major two were simple: Bible believing church, teaching children's department. The first is pretty easy to find. You can pretty much get online and look at the website of most churches to find out if they are a Bible believing church.
The second, however, is NOT easy to find. Most of you know that we have these three beauties that we are responsible for while they are on earth. We take PRIDE in teaching them everything WE know about the Bible, our faith, and our Savior. When we take them to church, we would LIKE to have a program that would reiterate what we've been teaching them. There are so many creative way to teach EVEN BABIES about Jesus. There are group activities, toys, crafts, snacks, the list goes on and on that you can do to incorporate the lesson. What we so often found was that the church was GREAT for us, but when we'd go pick up our kids they would have done the following:
9:00-9:15-Free Play
9:15-10:00-Outside Play
10:00-10:15-Snack of some sort of CHOCOLATE COOKIE AND PUNCH
10:15-10:30-free play
10:30-11:00-MOVIE
I know that the bottom line is that I am responsible for the spiritual growth of my children. I take that responsibility gladly, but I will not drop the ball on Sunday's so that I can get fed myself. I won't leave my kids in a sub-par disgustingly dirty daycare environment with some teenage kids and go enjoy worship for myself. I can't. Not only do I feel guilty, my kids do. They know they aren't learning anything. They've been taught to appreciate learning. They've been taught enough about our faith to EXPECT it when they come to church.
NOW, when I come to pick up my girls and they are beaming with pride because they've learned about Samson or Joshua and they can't wait to tell me all about it and show me their artwork I know that we've made the right choice. I know that it was worth it to go to every church in the central Arkansas area. It's important. It's my responsibility...
Moving along...
Yesterday we were at toadsuck park with some new friends. We were enjoying the beautiful day and taking a walk around the water when all of the sudden the kids(there were 6 of them among the two families) were holding what appeared to be a dead rabbit. Seriously, I thought I was going to throw-up. Here is the conversation that followed. I'm not sure which child or parent said what, so you'll just have to read it and figure it all out.
Parent-"OH MY GOSH! THROW THAT DOWN!!!!!"
Parent-"WHAT IN THE WORLD? IS THAT A BUNNY? WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!"
Child-"LOOOOOOK!!!!! IT'S A BUNNY!!!! CAN WE KEEP IT?????"
(Child throws down bunny. It's kicking. It's laying there. It's half-dead.)
Child-"LOOOOK!! It's a bunny!!!! It came out of the tree!!!"
Parent-"WHAT?! The bunny came out of the tree?!" Bunnies don't climb trees."
Child-"This bunny fell out of that tree."(POINTING UP INTO A RATHER TALL TREE)
Parent(to other parent)-"Do bunnies climb trees?"
Parent(to children)-"Bunnies don't climb trees. Who saw it come out of the tree?"
Children(all together)-"MEEEEE!"
Parent-"Well don't touch it. It's sick. Bunnies(and birds) have lots of germs."
Parent-"Come get some "magic soap""
We aren't sure what exactly happened, but the bunny did indeed seem to come out of a tree and it was injured and our kids did want to play with it. We figured maybe a hawk found it and left it in it's nest for latter and the half-dead bunny tried to save itself and jumped or fell out of the nest and in front of our sweet Innocent children. =) It was NASTY. Especially for this germaphobe!
OK. Enough for one day. You are welcome to leave your comments about either subject. Don't think you'll hurt my feelings. Sorry if I've offended anyone. The thoughts shared on this blog are my own and are very often pretty raw and unfiltered. Ahh, the joys of the Internet.
you're so funny. i didn't find that blog offensive AT ALL. i agree with you on the church thing. j's teachers try to do some sort of lesson with them (hard with distracted 2 year olds sometimes), and they sing bible songs. and in his limited language, he'll tell me what he sang! so you KNOW they're picking it up! it's sad when churches don't even try!
ReplyDeleteI'm dying! I can't stop laughing!!! I LOVE IT!!!! My very vivid imagination (courtesy of my videogame-free childhood) is playing it all out and it's just too funny!!!
ReplyDeleteOh how I canNOT wait to be a parent!
I agree with you about what are children need from church. The only point I would add is that I know sometimes people get volunteered for the children's ministry or even volunteer because no one else will do it or just because they want to help, but they have no clue what they are doing. I think it helps for people like us that have ideas about what it could look like could volunteer to help or to sit down and talk about your ideas and the benefits. On the other hand I am fully aware of churches whose children's ministry seems to exist to entertain children rather than simply teaching them what it means to be a Christian and about the Word. That's not cool with me either.
ReplyDeleteBunny story was sad and gross. I would have wanted to help it somehow but I agree that I wouldn't have been thrilled about the kids holding it.
Blogs are for venting. Don't feel bad about that. :)
I totally agree that it IS the church's responsibility to teach the precious children who are brought to them. You are very fortunate to have found a church whose members understand and are willing to give of their time to prepare and teach the Word to your children. I, also, am very fortunate to have a church where the members take it seriously. It is very sad when adults don't see the importance of training our children and then want to wonder what is wrong with each generation! Of course, I also agree with you on it ultimately being the parents responsibility, but if a church says it offers children's classes then it better produce or call it what it is - babysitting! Sorry, one of my soapboxes, too!
ReplyDelete