Family Support
A dad came up to me after Roundup at Family Famp and said “Our family is looking for a church. We want one that is like this place.” What the man wanted was a church that welcomed, loved, and grew close to their family. A place where they could feel God’s presence in the fellowship around them.
Families today are looking for a community that will love them and show God’s love in their relationships. Leaders desire this for their churches as well. Yet somehow we fall way short of our desire in this area. Why do we fall short? What can we do as the body of Christ to foster these deeper relationships for families?
I would like to suggest it is time for the leaders of churches to provide opportunities for families to support each other in their walk with God and each other. This may come in many forms. There may be small groups offered where real sharing and teaching can occur. There may be various retreats available to families to open up and share their struggles and joys. A church may decide to offer families an opportunity to partner with another family to help support each other. They may also provide counseling services to work with families that need deeper help.
Now some churches are offering these and other opportunities for families. Yet, families are choosing not to participate because they feel as if it would take too much time out of their already busy schedule. It is true that families do not need one more thing added to their plate, unless this thing is something that can help them grow deeper in their relationship with each other and their God. Then some of the other seemingly important pressures in families’ lives might just begin to disappear from their plates.
At our last Family Camp, a group of families began to talk to each other about how they are beginning to meet as a small group with a combination of teaching and sharing. This has been a real blessing in their lives.
My hope is that families may come to Laity Lodge Family Camp and be renewed in God’s grace and love in Christ and then return home and find a community of families to walk with on their journey in the church. My hope for churches is that they may provide these places of support for families so they may grow deeper in their relationship with our God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Tags: church, community, Laity Lodge Family Camp, Texas, wrap-up
