Five Oaks Survival Manual - Make Your Kids Go to "Church"

That's a message you'll hear at Five Oaks. Make them go to church or youth group or Young Life...something or anything that helps you help them find God or mature as followers of Christ. That's what I mean when I say "make them go to church." And I'm talking about teens here. (I've yet to meet a family that leaves their elementary kids home when they say they don't want to go to church.) 

Yes, there are exceptions to that message. When your teen is struggling in life so much that you no longer make them go to school (or they have to go to an alternative school), that's one of the points when it might not make sense to make them go to church. Or when your spouse doesn't attend and won't support you in this, that can make it almost impossible. Or if you come to Christ when your kids are already in their teen years and have been raised in a completely secular household up to that point, that may be an exception in some cases. There certainly are many comparable situations.

And how much better it is for your kids to want to go to church, right? In most cases, if you love God, love and serve in your church and live out your faith at home,  your kids will want to attend their youth group. Yes, there are many exceptions to this as well.

But if you make your kids go to school because you value education, you make them get a job because you value developing a work ethic, you make them play in sports (or sing in choir or play an instrument) because you value developing a well-rounded life...then how can you not make them participate in a youth group somewhere or attend church as a family?

I've never heard someone say, "I don't want to make my kids go to school when they don't want to because I don't want them to be turned off to education." But I've heard that way too many times regarding church. If you value your kid's relationship with Christ and their eternal life as much as you value those other things, then by all means, make your kid go to church.

Comments

[Paul Somers]

Henry, you could not have said it better.