Church Membership IV: Children Loving The Church

One of the main things I've noticed with having a 19-month old daughter is that she is starting to recognize Metropolitan Baptist Church where I am a Pastor. She has started to enter the church and head directly to where the balls are in the gym, proceed to the nursery to check on her babies, and then head to my office to strum my guitar and listen to music on the headphones. My daughter loves the church based on what she gets to do there - what activities she can have fun doing. Sadly, some never move beyond this reality and will continue to love the church based on what the church can do for them. I pray for this to change as my daughter will someday love the church because she loves Jesus and she wants to serve Jesus' church because Jesus has done so much for her. I see it that is my responsibility as a father to instill in my children a life that loves the local church. This needs to be a passion and priority in my life to show my kids how to 'love' the church. As C.J. Mahaney has said, "Our family will not endure - but this family (the church) will endure" I encourage you to listen to C.J. and his wife Carolyn talking about teaching their children to love the church.