Making your kids go to church

[grateful1]

Recently, I was reading a story by a Christian writer who remarked on why she makes her son go to church. She tells a story that takes place when her son is 7 years old and their car broke down on the freeway. There were so many other drivers around them, yelling and using really bad language because they were stuck, and her son heard every word. He put his head out the window and yelled back, "Stop **$%###& yelling at us, you @#$^% !$#%*&%$!!" He had heard what he heard, and then repeated it. It was then that she realized how impressionable he was, and made the decision that she wanted him to be influenced by the language of love, forgiveness, and goodness that came from the influences at church, not the filth from the world.

My former pastor put it this way: Kids are brighter than we give them credit for. They know the difference between something that matters and something that doesn't. As in, "I don't get a choice in whether or not I go to school, or wear warm clothes when it's cold, or brush my teeth. Those things must be important if my parents make me do them." What message are we sending them if we let them choose to go play baseball instead of going to church?

My mother actually prides herself on not making me go to church. She thinks that makes her a nominee for mother of the year, because she tried to be my buddy and let me make that decision on my own. Of course, my mother believes that God, Buddha, and Zeus are all the same and people just worship under different names, but that's for another post. (sigh) She has informed me that children who are forced to go to church will rebel by running away to join cults and become devil worshippers. When I reminded her that my rebellious phase didn't start until after my great-grandparents had passed away and no one was taking me to church anymore, she said I was the exception. Anyway...

DH and I have every intention of letting our kids know that we serve the Lord in our house, and that means spending time in God's house every week. As much as it is a part of our lives now, it will be a part of our children's lives. And, when it gets to the point that there are no longer crayons and finger puppets to tell the story of Jesus, when they start thinking it's boring and don't want to get up early on Sunday mornings, they will still be dressed and in the car on Sunday mornings - because this IS important. It does matter, just like school, wearing warm clothes in winter, and brushing their teeth.

What do you think?
What are your reasons for making your kids go to church?
Or do you believe this is a decision they should make on their own?

[gerber daisy]

As long as they live under my roof....it is church! DH's older kids are 11 and 13, they go to church with us when they are here. They actually look forward to it and I hope it stays that way, especially since they come from a non-Christian home with their mother.
As to our kids, they love church!!!! When we miss they get upset. We want them to see that church and Christianity is fun and our church is good for that. There is always something going on that the kids like and everyone is pretty friendly as a whole body. The cliques that were there a year ago are gone! (oops, that is another post) Anyways, opting our of church was never an option in my parents house and my bro and I turned out pretty good. Soooo church is mandatory in our home now too!

[joy77]

Church is mandatory in our home, too. Right now our kids really enjoy it. I hated church for a while as a kid but I still had to go. And the reason I didn't want to go is that the people who attended there weren't warm, and the kids our age were not friendly. When we finally switched churches it was wonderful and I went whenever I could.

[Gentletouch]

Do we introduce Church first or JESUS CHRIST? I heard an evangelist said that we must teach small children how to pray as early as they can utter words and tell them the reason why. Our FATHER is listening to our children. Remember that HE just lend our children to us. Small children belongs to HIM so HE cares how they grow. HE might listen more to the prayers of the children more than the prayers of the adults so it's important to teach them how to pray like " LORD, thank YOU for daddy and mommy amen, then add slowly like thank YOU for our food, and house, amen; then thank you for Dad, mom, mou food, our car and whatever the child sees he can thank GOD for. Apparently, the greatest legacy we can give to our children is that they know how to pray when they reach the age of three years old.

They wiil not leave going to church when they are started right in loving GOD and others. We do not have to worry of them as they grow. We just hope that they will accept CHRIST as their LORD and Savior before they reach the age of accountability (12 years old according to the Jewish tradition) but there are accounts that many children accepted CHRIST even younger. Our goal is that they will fall in love with CHRIST not so much as church. the church has so much shortcomings and weaknesses that could easily discourage them down the road but if they love GOd, we do not have to worry of them when they grew up and accepted CHRIST ( Ephesians 1: 13-14).

But on the light of the thread, maybe these following verses would say something on having the whole family going to church:

Joshua 24:15 (New King James Version)

15. And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD."

As parents we are always concerned of the personal relationship of our children with our GOD. Remember Job?

Job 1:4-5 (New King James Version)
4. And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

5. So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed[a] God in their hearts.” Thus Job did regularly.

As long as we are on earth we must be concerned of the social standing of our offsprings not only when they are young but as long as they live. We must continually pray for them.

Gentletouch