I'm sitting here with a million thoughts running through my head at the same time, and I can't seem to make sense of them enough to get them out on screen (how weird... I wanted to say "on paper"...). I'm even feeling like no one is probably the slightest bit interested in my rambling thoughts anyway! So why bother putting them "on screen"? Why? I don't know. Maybe there is another apostolic mom out there going through the same thing I'm going through, and maybe I can help her, or MAYBE she can help me! If you relate to this, I'd love it if you would comment or email me! Here's my situation:
Our church has regional small groups called "Life Groups" that meet every other Wednesday evening in homes around the county. My husband and I are facilitators of one of these groups. It happens to be a group that does NOT include the town we live in. It also happens to be a group of people who are either older, or single... NO children in the group except ours. Adam and Nick are not particularly fond of this arrangement, and consequently they strongly dislike going to Life Group. Now... I certainly don't want my children growing up "strongly disliking" anything that is related to church or serving God. I want them to LOVE it! I love it! But a group with our dynamics basically has not much to offer them. Face it. When you were a 7-9 year old kid, did you like sitting around listening to grown-ups talk on and on about stuff you couldn't relate to for an hour? No. Mine don't either. We have been trying to tackle this issue for two years now. It has been quite honestly very frustrating... for us as parents, for them as children, and for the rest of the group that has no answers for us. The perfect solution would be to INVITE FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN! But being from a different town, our children don't KNOW any kids from the town our regional group is held in. They can't really invite their friends... it would be inconvenient to join a group that is out of town. So what do we do??? (This is where you email me or post a comment... I could sure use some help in this area! Just being honest....). Read on...
Let me tell you what I did this evening. We began our life group together in prayer, but when my husband began the adult discussion, I took my boys to the other side of the room, read them a story, and did an activity. The topic was "responsibility". You should have seen their faces! They were so thrilled that someone was paying attention to them! They were so thrilled to have something productive to do! I was totally bummed out to miss out on the adult discussion ( I thrive on adult fellowship and conversation ). But to see my children's faces was worth a million bucks! I am so glad I did it (even though that part of me that NEEDS the adult conversation is depressed now). I love my children so much, and I will do anything to make them LIKE church related activities like Life Groups.
Well, I know it is not a positive post in a lot of ways, but those are the thoughts and troubles running through my head right now. This blog is all about being an apostolic mom in the northern US. Northern apostolic moms don't always have perfect days. In fact, I don't think I've ever met a mom... apostolic or otherwise... who has all perfect days! So, you take what you get today. Ponder it. Let me know what you think. I can take constructive criticism pretty well... but not destructive criticism. Save that for someone else. In other words, if you think my thought process is wrong, tell me, but give me some helpful, positive ideas to help me out. Thanks for listening.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
First, let me say that I think what you did with your children was great! I understand your situation a bit, because we were older when we had our son and many of our friends did not have children his age. One idea that I thought of: Why not bring the adult lesson down to a children's level but include the adults in it? I am 54, but many times in a service at children's camp or in Sunday School, the Lord has really spoken to me. You could even do a craft that everyone would like. You might just have to help the children a little more. You could possibly do this every third time that you get together? Focus on the Family has some wonderful family devotions and activities. www.family.org Hope this helps!
Thanks for your input! :) I appreciate it very much. I tried this approach once, and did not get a very favorable response from the folks in the group. But it is worth another try, and I will try it! Blessings!
Michelle:
Hi. I am not an Apostolic mom, but I am an Apostolic minister who also happenst to facilitate a small group. First... Let me ask you a question and then I will give my suggestions. Why doesn't your church do small groups just within your town? (there I got that one off my shoulders)
My suggestions. Why don't you and your husband switch off every other week? You bring a fun activity that you could do with the kids in the kitchen or another room this week and then have him do it next week. Our small groups have what we call alternate cell servants. These are another person who has been trained to facilitate to cover when the main facilitator is out of town, or just needs a break. If you don't have an alternate, maybe this would be a help to take all of the load of child care off of you and you would get adult fellowship every other week.
Another suggestion would be to make it known to the whole group that helping care for the children is a responsiblity of the group and that everyone must take a turn entertaining the children on a rotating basis. This will only work if you trust the other members to be kind and entertaining with your children.
I hope this helps. God Bless
Wes
http://ellensburgapostolicfaithupc.xnapster.com/index.html
Post a Comment