I Don’t Know How to Help My Kids Love Church

Okay? We don't-- I think maybe sometimes when we think of our desires for our kids, we think we want them to love, you know, we want them to love going to church.

And of course, of course we do, and me and my husband are gonna talk about that later.

But really, the real thing we want them to love is Jesus.

We want them to love what Jesus loves.

We want them to love this amazing, miraculous, beautiful thing that he created, the Church, that we get to be part of, this spiritual family.

And, um, how do we do that? Well, they're watching us, and they're seeing what, how we feel about the Church.

And if we are not excited and moved and invested in the Church, then how can we expect our kids to be? Same as school supply shopping.

How can I expect my daughters to be excited about buying new notebooks if I'm not excited to buy new notebooks? And guess what? I was, and so were they.

So that's what we're gonna talk about today, okay, you guys? Maybe you've wondered, maybe you've thought, "Okay, my kids complain every Sunday.

What am I doing wrong?" Or you've thought, "Why does church feel like an obligation to them if I love going to church?" Or maybe you thought, "How can I help my kids love church without forcing it?" Or maybe you've thought, "What if they grow up and walk away from the Church?" Another question you might have, what if they've already seen the Church disappoint us as a family? What do you do with that? So these are very big, real questions and fears that we're going to wrestle through today.

So the mess today is sometimes we might be trying so hard to make church enjoyable, we forget our goal is not simply to raise churchgoers.

Our goal as moms is to raise disciples who love Jesus, and because they love Jesus, they're going to learn to love His bride.

They're going to love what He loves.

So let me start with what the Church is, okay? Here's what the Church is.

Let me look at my notes.

Okay.

I'm not a Greek scholar, but I do know that the Greek word for church is ekklesia, and it means as, an assembly or called-out ones, and it's referring to a community of believers of Jesus, okay? When we talk about the Church, the big C Church, if you are a follower of Jesus, you are part of the Church, big C, broad Church, universal Church.

And then there's the local church, which is so important, and my husband is so passionate about this, and he always has been.

And this is the local, visible gathering of believers who meet together regularly to worship, to hear teaching of the Bible, to fellowship.

In Ephesians, Paul calls the Church the bride of Christ.

In 1 Timothy 3:15, the Church is referred to as a family, the family or the hou- in the household of God.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul emphasizes that every member is connected and has a distinct purpose.

It's the, the body of Christ.

We all are, like, different parts of a body that work together.

So it's super important, you guys, and it's been very important in my own life to be plugged into a local church.