keeping teens in the church
Hi - i picked up an article while surfing by mistake - it was a strategy for family and a strategy for church and involved several circles, parents in the inner, kids in the outer and church as a whole other circle...anyways, thought i would blog you my response:
The only thing that concerned me was of a paradigm nature. Whilst church is seen as a place, a geography and a set of diary connecting points - then it continues to be a separate circle to the family. I think there is less issues once we cease to place family in the church (as separate from life thus dualistic) and more benefits by trying to live church in the family. Also family is often the for church and not visa versa, wherby, we need to find a way for teens to transition into healthy interdependance - a dysfunction is some families is it fails to transition this life phase well and so there is a break from family, instead of an adjustment to the relationship nature within family. When the parents cannot transition this adjustment and change, kids fly the nest.
While church measures obedience and commitment by its proximity to the centre - then teens can leave the church, when family is measure through procimity to the parents, then teens break from the home (but often only in the parents worldview oor in this case the church as centres worldview). When church becomes people and relationships and family and not building / denomination / paid up members and diary..................... it is something that teens cant leave so readily.
Church does not have a family home in Christ, church has a home in christ. When we allow this centralised thinking - then teens have a nest to fly from. When the family home is centre, detachment from this seems to be a break in family..........but this is not meant to be the case. The for church is family, the for family is not the church, as church, the fullness of Christ which is in and through all things, is also through family - which if Christs resides there - is also church.
We have some huge changes to make i feel. In the UK we have between 600 and 800 youth leave the uk church each week, this includes the new churches. Outside the 'centre church' which has established itself as separate from life to keep people safe for heaven.............. there are now hundreds of thousands of youth becoming s, who never gave up on God, but found the constructed family home with such close proximity to patriarchs ..., a straight jacket.
If we find a way to have church once again in and through all things, we will find a great many old family members who will walk with us again.
posted by al bino at 4:46 pm
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