a new venture

My Man and I have started a new blog together:

Do Not Hinder Them

Our intention is to write about faith practices with children, specifically faith practices within the family (rather than just the church building).

We believe that faith begins and develops more at home (much more) than at church, but there's a tendency in our culture to leave faith education up to the age-based ministries that happen in the church building. There are lots of children's ministry resources focused on putting together a dynamic program, but programs are valuable only as the beginning of a faith conversation, not the end. My kids are at church more than most, but it's still only a few hours a week (which is plenty!). What they're taught at home, either through intention or unintention (non-intention?) matters more.

Which doesn't mean that church education doesn't matter. It does. Church is important for building community, for increasing a faith story foundation, for worship, for intentional time spent with a focus on experiencing God/dess. I have lots of opinions about what I want church to look like for my children! But I'll be honest here and say that many of those opinions have to do with what I don't want church to be for my children. I don't want them to experience fear in their faith; I don't want them to worry about fitting in with a certain church culture; I don't want them to learn an us/them mentality; I don't want them to feel judged or dread going to this place where their dad works (ah, the trials of a minister's kid); I don't want them to think of church as a place for entertainment.

What, then, do I want for them? And for me. And for us.

That's what we'll be talking about over at the new blog. We'll be speaking not as experts, but as try-ers. We believe that faith at home is of primary importance, but how are we intentional about that? We believe that church programs for children should be more experiencial and intergenerational, but how do we implement that? We believe that our own spiritual lives as parents and people are important (to our kids, our community, ourselves, God/dess), but what does that look like for a working couple?

We don't have answers, just some ideas, which I'm sure will change and mold over time.

I must admit that I am nervous. More nervous than I ever was about this small personal blog. I keep thinking, "We don't really know anything. What if we get it wrong? What if we're utter failures at trying on new ideas? What if we're just a disappointment?" The blog was my idea as a different way for my husband, the children's minister, to communicate with church families about faith development. But it's also this great desire of mine to have more conversation about this topic, to have more accountability, to encourage myself to think and practice more consistently with my family.

I don't know where this new blog will lead or what it will look like, really. It will change and mold as we do, I suppose. But we'd love to have you join in conversation with us there if you'd like. Let's encourage one another!