This is a very stirring post.
Huge thanks to the person who sent it my way.
"Teaching Sunday School may never be sexy. But it is one of the most valuable, sacrificial, and yes, radical things you can do for a church. So when they ask for volunteers next session, you—yes, you—should consider it."
Very interesting. I think I got more out of the comments on the original post rather than the post itself. "it seemed inappropriate to expose little kids to my doubt-filled Christianity and yet dishonest to pretend like I had it all together"... and a couple of people have talked about missing "main church" being a struggle. I've done my stints in my time, under different leadership styles, some done all from the front, some in small groups. BUT (as a parent) I am shattered on a Sunday morning - obv it is very selfish to just want to go and sit there and say "Here I am God" but it's where I've been at in my life for the last few years! Apparently, our church is "chronically short of volunteers" -but no one ever appeals for volunteers (well, it was mentioned briefly at a recent service). Maybe some of us should just pull our kids out and get them to go to the whole service with us if we're not willing to even give up once a month...
ReplyDeleteyeah, I posted it because I thought it was interesting and because I loved the quote about everyone wanting to change the world except invest in the one right in front of them or maybe at home with them.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't believe that Sunday School cuts it as much as the loving, accepting and nurturing community of faith. Catherine Stonehouse's book "Joining Children on the Spiritual Journey" is a must-have.
I love your last sentence btw - I have some more thoughts on that, but for another time perhaps.
I agree with your statement about "loving, accepting and nurturing community of faith" and in light of this we as a family have started going to a family cell (now called inetergenerational lifegroup!) I'm not as anonymous as you think but I didn't want to put my name to previous post for various reasons!
ReplyDeleteoh....I might just know the person who researched the needs and desires of parents in advance, wrote material for, established, attended and monitored the effectiveness of those "intergenerational cell groups"......!!!
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