Children and Church Life
Children of the ministry are not volunteers; they are conscripts.
Doug Toussaint
My job as a parent is a temporary responsibility with eternal consequences.
Tim Kimmel
What do Alice Cooper and Cotton Mather have in common? Not much, except that both grew up as sons of ministers.
The same is true of Aaron Burr, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Walter Mondale, John Tower, Marvin Gay, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Sir Laurence Olivier. Other "preacher's kids" include Albert Schweitzer, Christian Barnaard, and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
There's no guarantee, of course, that any child — whether born into the home of a preacher, professor, plumber, or prince — will decide to live in a way that brings honor to God and joy to parents. Nor can pastoral couples guarantee even that their children will find church a place to enjoy rather than endure. Some factors are beyond parental control — critics, conflict — but parents can help prepare children for church life, interpret what's happening, and create an atmosphere that makes church life much more appealing and increases the chances of the child's developing a strong relationship with God.
Let's look at some of the key elements in helping kids have a healthy experience in their church life. Family-conscious ministers have identified several general strategies.
Fathering or Pastoring Your Family?
The first is to recognize the difference between being a father to your family and being your family's pastor.
When your family is part of your congregation, you'll wind up pastoring them. As one Nazarene pastor pointed out about his children, "I'm the only pastor they've ever had." Through preaching, counsel, and example, pastors provide spiritual direction for everyone in their congregations, including their ...
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