What is the purpose of the church, and how can it help my children cont

Here are some helpful tips for.

1. On the way to church talk briefly about how you're looking forward to learning more about God during the service and sunday school and suggest how that knowledge will help you. On the way home briefly mention what you learned and get your children talking about what they did, what fun they had, what songs they sang, and what their Bible story or Bible lesson was about. This will help to reinforce what your children learned. Try not to add your own lengthy sermon to what they say the lesson was; instead, be excited about it and praise them for what they're learning.

2. Talk to your children's teachers and find out what they're teaching. Talk to your children too, and help them with their lessons, just as you'd help them with their homework and talk to them about what they're learning at school. Help them to understand and memorize their memory verses, for example, and review during the week the Bible story or Bible passage they focused on the previous Sunday at church. If they learned a specific life principle, look for opportunities to encourage them in an upbeat way to apply what they learned, emphasizing the benefits of doing so.

3. Be sure, however, to make church not merely a learning process. Make it fun as well. If your church meets in the morning, take your children out to lunch afterward or prepare their favorite foods for lunch at home. Make Sunday afternoon special, with the purpose of having your children always look forward to "church day." Try to make the process of getting ready and traveling to and from church a positive one. If you're tired or not looking forward to going yourself, try to keep your whining muffled! If after church you're struggling with something someone said or you feel that you got less than nothing out of church that day, bite your tongue. Any negative comments you make will come back to haunt you in the future, disgused as the reasons your children want to stay home. Don't misunderstand: I'm not saying that we should always paste on smiles and pretend that our church is perfect.

4. When your church schedules something fun and extra, a field trip, a party, a play, a midweek kids' club, or anything else your children would enjoy or ask to attend make it a priority to get them there. Look for any and every opportunity to make church an enjoyable experience. Help them stay excited about it.