It takes a whole church to raise a child

Conference with Mel Lacy of Oak Hill College: 

12 JANUARY 2013, 8.30 - 12.30. 

St Peter's, Bayhall Road, Tunbridge Wells.

It's never been easy to raise children - even in a stable family where one parent can devote themselves to childcare. But in these days of family breakdown and ever increasing pressure for both parents to be employed, raising children seems to get harder and harder. 

Of course for those of us who love the Lord Jesus, our first priority is to bring up our children to love and fear Him, and to enjoy being members of His church family. But this can feel like yet another demand and pressure.

I guess we all sense that the whole church - parents and others - could and should work together to raise Christian children. But the reality has often been very different. 

I remember one village church in which a toddler touched the Christmas tree and... smash!... a bauble fell off and broke. You could hear the tutting and sighing and see the shaking of heads. After the service, the child's dad told me they would never come to church again. And they didn't (at least not till they moved to a village with a child-friendly church).

But on the other hand, I've also known parents who seem to think there is a 'church' within their church which will look after their children for them - all they have to do is drop them off & pick them up and other church members will entertain the youngsters and teach them the faith. 

Neither of these can possibly be right. But how do we get the whole church involved in helping parents, raising children and being a genuine church family where people of all ages are valued and nurtured in a spirit of mutual love and respect?

We're under no illusions that this is a high calling and will mean some deep shifts in thinking and practice. Such a change in culture doesn't happen overnight. But we need to start somewhere, and where better than with the expertise of one of the church's foremost thinkers in this area, Mel Lacy? 

I do hope you'll join us on Jan 12 whether you're a parent, grandparent, married, single or a teenager. It's open to anyone, not just members of St Peter's, and if you want more information, please contact the church office via our website: www.stpeterstw.com