Parent-Led Ministry
One of the things that I have been researching, on top of the normal children’s ministry events, is parent-led ministry in the home. The reason I have spent a decent amount of time on this topic is two-fold. The first is that parents are given the responsibility of guiding their children in the Bible. The second is the fact that I’m a parent myself, with two teenagers at home.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says ” 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
This doesn’t mean we, as parents, shouldn’t send our kids off to church events. It means that we should be living out our faith in very real ways everyday, regardless of where we are or who we are with. We are the best teachers our children will ever have when it comes to matters of faith. The sticking point, for me anyway, is how?! Particularly when we as parents are competing with all the “things” out there in the world. My personal challenge is technology. How in the world do I limit time online and teach my children how to have self-control at the same time? I don’t have a solid answer to that yet, but we are working on it.
So, to finish out this week’ blog post I will share a few of the resources that I have found online that have given me some good ideas. Every family has different issues and different challenges, but I have found that these sites provide a variety of resources.
If you have found good resources please send them my way. One of my goals as the Director of Children’s Ministry is to gather resources that I can give out as people need them. As a family of faith we can work together to help each other through the tough times of life that come with having children in our homes. We can also support each other as we all work to do our best to pass on our faith in our Lord, and Savior, Jesus.
Lydia Massie
Director of Children’s Ministry
