It takes a village to raise a child. Thats not Hillary Clinton. That's an old African proverb.
Said less creatively: children are influenced by multiple adults models. That was my experience growing up. I was influenced by my parents, my grandparents, a Sunday School teacher, a football coach, an employer, and a few other scattered adult role models. Some of these people influenced me generally for good, and some of them influenced me for Christ. I am a product of their influences.
It takes a village (a church) to raise a child for Christ. It takes parents, and youth leaders, and pastors, and cookie table ladies, and other assorted people who are living out their faith in ways that our children see and absorb. Our collective witness can be powerful.
This whole process requires at least two things: a genuine faith and points of contact. Having a genuine faith means you have something spiritual and exemplory to pass on. Having points of contact means that you interact with the kids, and they get the message that you care about them.
Most of us adults interact with other adults in a zone that is 5-6 feet off the ground. I call this the adult zone. Meanwhile, the kids live and move in a zone that is significantly lower, about 2-4 feet off the ground. (Teens are somewhat higher!)
After our kids leave the home, most of us forget that the kid zone even exists. We are vaguely aware that alot of noise and activity is happening down there somewhere, but we are too busy talking in the adult zone to even see it.
In order to influence the younger generation you must bend down and talk to the kids.
If you do so, and you have a genuine faith, you can change the world of a child.
Bend down!
Here are some practical considerations:
1. Pray for the kids you see in church
2. Model reading the Bible for them
3. Share your faith story with them
4. Encourage them when they sing, serve, and use their talents for God
5. Be a passionate advocate of faith, and be fun and warm at the same time.
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Being a parent of a child with Autism, you find out how much of a child's learning process is derived by observation.
ReplyDeleteOccupational Therapists are specifically there to help children with learning disabilities learn the cultural and behavioral aspects of being a child and try to help them bridge the gap that is created because other children obtain all of this simply through the power of observation and practice.
When you experience this you get a deeper understanding of how everyone surrounding our kids influences them.
Getting those in our church village to provide models for our children to observe truly helps shape them into the the spiritually thriving people we want them to be. But as much as being a model is important, so is engaging with them. Like Pastor Jeff said, if you would bend down, you can truly engage in a child. And if you engage in a child just once, you go from being just another face in an endless sea of faces to a focal point from which they will look to for learning in the future.
For our families with special needs children, compassion and understanding from our church village go a long, long way in supporting not only the child, but the parents as well.
The world can be a cold place for a special needs child to learn and grow. We have a chance to create a warm environment for them to be nurtured and thrive.
If we do our part, doesn't this represent the best chance for us to reflect all of the principles Jesus has taught us?
I think we all (even Parents that have their own children) need to pick out a child to take a vested interest in. We can pray for that child, seek them out to say hi, pay attention to them, talk to them - tune in and maybe take notice of their mood, what they're wearing- ya know show care anyway that fits. Kids need to feel loved and welcomed at church - by adults not just their friends. Your little effort might just make all the difference in some child's life - on behalf of God. Kids think "my parents have to love me, my teachers are supposed to teach me-that's their job", but think what it means when another adult in their faith community cares about them because they choose too. Even if a child moved away from faith for a time (while they were as Robin V. so astutely called it- "collecting their testimony") if that child fondly recalls someone loving them at church, it can draw them back and God can use that!
ReplyDeleteI think we think of stress as an adult problem, but our kids have alot on their plates- social, peer, academic and even parental pressure can weigh heavily. They need caring adults all around them, influencing them and modeling how to live for God.
Sometimes we think work on behalf of God's kingdom has to be this big taxing thing - nope it really can be as simple as loving on our kids-together as a community.
The idea of picking a child to take a vested interest in is fantastic. Thanks for sharing this simple idea with a lot of impact. I can't wait to try it out!
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