In similar vein with my post on the Bible, here is a good article by a lady who is working through developing faith "out loud".
I appreciated the post as well as several of the comments afterward.
I also recommend clicking the link in the post and reading that too :0)
For the record, my children have never been to AWANA, & have only attended VBS once. I have some very mixed feelings about them having gone, and am working to remedy in other ways the things that led us to try it out this time.
http://joyinthisjourney.com/2012/10/how-some-churches-are-misleading-our-children/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JoyInThisJourney+%28Joy+in+This+Journey%29
I love how brave she is about starting the conversation! My parents allowed me to go to any of those things I wanted (I was never overtly pushed that I can remember). They would make themselves familiar with what was taught, and then talk about it as much as I wanted to discuss it. I can remember a few times where they preemptively talked to me about a topic BEFORE I got the official lesson. It was related to a topic that they had differences with, and wanted to be sure I understood ahead of time that there are other points of view. My parents never looked at church leadership as "biblical authority". I absorbed the perspective that we are all building blocks of the temple. I annoyed our last church group greatly with that perspective (they had some pastor-worship going on), but I am so grateful that I carried that away from my childhood.
ReplyDeleteWas it healthy for me to be perpetually placed in situations of disagreement? I'm not sure. It was really tough at times. But it's a part of who I am.
Hope you don't mind my putting my comment here. I felt like chiming in on Joy's post at this point would be like whispering in a crowded room.