My wife and I are always very conscious of the fact that our daughter is a PK (pastor’s kid) twice over (we’re both pastors). Danger seems to be lurking on every side — some pastors are so immersed in their work that their families suffer, and their kids stray from the faith; other PKs have this strange sense that their pastor-parent is the “boss” of something, and act accordingly.
On top of all this, factor into the equation that my wife and I are both committed to children’s and youth ministry, and our daughter is well on her way to writing a best-selling, tell-all memoir one day…
This week, we are having VBS at church. It’s great — but also crazy, tiring, and hectic. I feel like I’m running on a constant deficit these days — sleep, attention, you name it. My body is kind of around, but my mind is always half an hour late.
It sounds corny and obvious, but we really want our kids to know and love Jesus more because of this crazy, crazy week we’re spending together at church. The last thing we want to do is create more consumers who crave churchy experiences. Rather, we want to create an environment where kids can encounter God’s love for themselves in the presence of caring, prayerful adults — with tons of singing and laughing together, of course.
My prayer is that more of our church families will take Jason Evans’ words to heart:
We, as parents, need to take back our right to be our children’s spiritual directors. We owe it to our children.
What an amazing thing it would be to see parents joyfully take responsibility for the spiritual growth and formation of their children — that this VBS week would be partnership in ministry to their kids, not the whole endeavor in and of itself.
headsparks* 
“What an amazing thing it would be to see parents joyfully take responsibility for the spiritual growth and formation of their children —”
Yes yes yes yes. I think for us (Jundo’s, Pastors) it’s so easy to have that responsibility be a natural thought in our every day lives. But for parents who do not minister the gospel as a living… it’s something they do not take up.
*sigh* that is the struggle. @YN we’re still trying to get the parents to be more involved. right now i’ve come to the conclusion, that the majority agree that they would like to be/shoudl be the spiritual authorities in their homes but don’t have the 1) TIME nor 2) Confidence.
re: #2 we’re trying to help parents by providing resources such as family worship, family dvd’s and family devotional guides. It’s #1 and the priority of school and other life events over spiritual teaching that is the biggest problem.., It looks like it starts with the senior pastor. If the senior pastor makes it a priority teaching and models it thus so… but that’s rare. *sigh*
Mia — I think it’s great that you’re resourcing parents to take the lead in their kids’ spiritual formation. As part of the priesthood of all believers, I would love to see the role of vocational pastors move from being “the pros” to coming alongside people and empowering them to walk with God in the everyday.
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Sigh. Yes, the senior pastor issue. Actions definitely speak louder than words, and the way pastors interact with their families says more than proclaiming the importance of “family ministry” from the pulpit.