A Small Box with a Big Impact

At most we are at church together 2 or 3 hours a week, but we are called to make God a part of our lives everyday. Both family and church relationships are built in the small moments together, moments of laughter, wonder, and discovery. The Bible in Deuteronomy 6 states, “you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” We want to help create the space for the families in your church to grow together with God at the center of their everyday.

Why are Family Ministry Tools resources worth the investment?

• The Sticky Faith Group at Fuller Youth Institute has studied why young people end up walking away from the church. The biggest indicator they found for faith that sticks in kids was time spent talking and living the faith in the home.
• Teens are three times more likely to stay in church after high school graduation if they encounter regular healthy faith conversations within the home according to Richard Ross, Ph.D. professor of student ministry at Southwestern Baptist Seminary.
• Studies show that on average, kids will spend about 24-40 hours a year at church. Contrast that with the estimated 2,000-3,000 hours they will spend at home or with their parents. Churches need to invest in parents and help them include God in the everyday bits of life.
• Parents need our help. Most of the parents of today’s elementary aged children grew up in age-segregated ministries and/or without faith being discussed at home. They want to engage their children in faith conversations, but they feel like they do not know how. We need to give our parents tools and support them.
• Kids need to learn that there is more to a living a life of faith than Sunday worship. The average child will be engaged in some kind of media (television, video games, social network, etc.) for 40 hours a week.  Most kids barely reach 40 hours at church in an entire year. Kids need families engaged in their faith walk at home to counterbalance all the media influences.

Author:

Robin Cannon

Robin has been a Christian Educator for over 20 years. She is the Founder and Director of Content Development for Family Ministry Tools.

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