reThink

I started last weekend on Friday attending the reThink conference in Raleigh, NC. Wonderful, challenging thoughts regarding the church's secondary role to disciple our children and our primary responsibility as parents. Not only as a youth pastor's wife, but most importantly as a mom, I was challenged to "rethink" the way typical churches handle ministry. Do we arrive at church and drop off our child to get his/her only spiritual training, expecting the church to teach our child all he/she needs to know about following God in 3 short hrs/week? Or, do we view his/her spiritual training as our responsibilty in the same way it's our responsibility to teach her how to tie her shoes and cook dinner? It's intimadating and leaves me almost fearful in a way. But, it's the truth. Children are a huge responsibility - one that we undertake the moment we have them. Some days (ok, most days) that's incredibly humbling. In our family, no one can be blamed for Lynn's lack of spiritual direction except for her father and I. We choose to take her to church and have her in a Christian school so that the training is reinforced, but it is still our responsibilty to make sure her foundation is built on the Truth. From the church's perspective, this means that we need to equip parents to instill Godly truths in their children. We need to partner, encourage, and train them, not take their child away and babysit them for an hour. That's my thoughts, anyways. If you're inclined to read further, see S. Wright's book: reThink - is Student Ministry Working?
Feel free to share your thoughts here as well. Do you expect the church to teach your child all the spiritual "stuff" he/she should know? Or just reinforce what you're teaching? Do you feel prepared or intimidated by the idea?