Sunflower Faith

How can we organise things so that husbands and wives with kids can be actively involved in Bible study together?”

This question was asked in an article titled, “Can we crack the Bible Study problem?” and something that we hear come up, here and there at our church was,”We have kids and don’t know anyone or have anyone who can babysit”.

This is a topic that we found ourselves dealing with, while looking for a church and bible study group, that we could participate in as a family, not just the individual ministries that they had geared seperately for men, women and children, and seem to fall short for the longest time in the family department.

We found ourselves finally convicted, to start a bible study group, within our church, that was family oriented, where families came, as a family, and didn’t need sitters unless they just wanted to or had families and/or friends who could watch the kids.

Aside from just matters of economics, there are most families who can’t afford these days to get babysitters or maybe they are still new in town that they don’t know anyone, that they trust enough, to watch their kids or drop the kids off at, it seem to mystify us, the difficulty of finding a bible study group, where we could go as a family, as a whole.

We wanted our family to experience and to grow together spirtually, as a family, and felt that seperating ourselves out, just didn’t seem….right.

Yes, we had our individual bible studies that we go to, one for my husband, one for me and the kids are in childcare provided by the church, but how about as a family, and not just as a family on Sunday morning (even then the kids still aren’t with us), but away from church as well.

The article made a point that seem to strike at the heart,”it is easy for one member of the marriage to just withdraw from Bible study while the other continues. In our minds we think “this is just while the kids are young”, but I have seen that once removed from regular small group meeting, it is very hard to get re-involved later on. “

There are times when kids get sick and that is a legitimate reason not to make it to bible study, but what if the family can’t afford a sitter that week or every week, what if they have infants, what if they want to go together as a family and not have Jane or John stay at home or at a sitter’s house, while just the parents learn about our Father in Heaven.

That should never be a reason to justify why they can’t make it to bible study then. If anything, not just a church, but rather, the church community, should not forget this group that sometimes seem to fall in the groups.

For smaller churches and even communities, concessions are made; Maybe childcare provided at the church itself so the parents can attend together and know the kids are still able to participate with them in family based activites or single church members volunteer to watch kids so the parents can attend without concerns of:

1. Who is watching the kids,

2. Having the monetary means to have a sitter

3. The kids are right there and not at someone else’s house.

For many families, this is a chance for them to meet and be with other families with similiar age children, in an otherwise hectic week.

Then there are  families who are new to Christ or maybe economically affected by tight budgets, who still need to be minister and that seems to be a field that, at least for us, that  seems to be overlook or taken for granted that they “have a sitter on call”.

From personal experiences, we experience where some groups took kids who were maybe, nine or older, but infants couldn’t come. Not really friendly or helpful for couples with kids of different ages; Another group that seem interesting, but only accepted couples with teen-aged children….not helpful for those with young young kids.

And unfortunately for the groups that accepted the whole family ,either all the bible study groups were filled up that they weren’t taking anyone, or there was only one opening…Should we force families to have to “compete” for slots so they could study and grow in His word?

We laughed one night as we talked about it. It’s ironic that we go to church as a family to grow together as a family,with God being the center, and yet, as a family, for the longest time, we couldn’t go to bible study, because we had no babysitters, didn’t know anyone and couldn’t find a group that took our “age group”.

We didn’t mind studying on our own, but missed the fellowship of being with others to talk and discuss being a Christian, of talking and discussing of growing and experiencing, being a family.

If we felt that way, more than likely, we thought….so did others.

We live in a chaotic and world that is growing colder and colder to the Christian faith. There are families who need strength and support from us as fellow brethrens and not just on Sunday, but everyday and creating lifelines help and not just because we meet a certain age or family age group.

We couldn’t understand then, why the difficulty in finding a bible study group that serves the needs of the families and not just couples or individuals.

If we want our children to grow in our footsteps and as Christians, shouldn’t they be included or an avenue for families who want to grow as a family and not just dad and mom going to bible study without the kids be created.

There are many times when we can “do things without the kids” but growing in Christ shouldn’t be one of them…Kids and particularly families in a broken world, need Christ more than ever.

Sometimes, just being able to make it to bible study, is the closest that some families are able to make it, together as a family, to hearing His word, particularly if dad or mom has to work on Sunday to make ends meet or even probrably the first step toward making a commitment.

If there isn’t an opportunity for families who otherwise couldn’t or wouldn’t go to church isn’t welcome, what message does that send to them?

In a world where economically and spiritually and morally, times are getting hard, getting together for bible study shouldn’t be made difficult too.