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TechnoratiFurthermore, there may be greater risks in keeping children inside a protective “fortress” rather than properly equipping them for life in the world.
“We ... build these walls in a sincere but misguided effort to protect our children,” Shallenberger says.
However, Shallenberger says life “inside the fortress” creates an “Us-Them game” and builds boredom, cynicism, and legalism in children.
“God has given us children to develop. We are to multiply their talents and passions,” he says, referring to the parable of talents told by Jesus to his disciples.
“We are to give them a passion for lost people. If we bury these young ‘talents’ in an effort to not lose them, even for the most noble of reasons, we become the evil and lazy servant,” Shallenberger adds.
In mulling the tension between protecting children and raising Christ followers, Shallenberger came up with seven initial thoughts.
• There are no guarantees in parenting. There are no formulas.
• God loves our children. He is not asking us to discard our own children to reach the lost.
• If we raise children to hide behind our “fortress” they will grow up living behind the fortress.
• If our children watch us repairing our walls by being judgmental and hypocritical, they will grow up to do the same thing.
• There is no way to eliminate risk in the parenting process. (I’m the father of three sons).
• We need to challenge our children at age appropriate levels. I’m NOT advocating tossing our kids to the wolves.
• We still don’t believe that the two Great Loves are among the “Fundamentals.”
Shallenberger’s workshop was one of 60 that were presented during the course of last week’s “Conspire” conference, hosted by the Willow Creek Association in South Barrington, Ill.
Children’s ministry leaders representing 1,000 churches of varying styles, sizes, and locations gathered for the Mar. 18-20 event, which has been held annually under different names since 2003.
This year’s conference was held just a week after a study released by The Barna Group revealed that less than one percent of the youngest adult generation in America, those between ages 18 and 23, has a biblical worldview.
Furthermore, a study last month by LifeWay Research found that the majority of parents (60 percent) heavily rely on their own experiences growing up for parenting guidance but only one-fifth say they receive a lot of guidance from sacred text such as the Bible or Koran.
“We believe that when the church and home are working together in partnership, a child will be spiritually formed for a lifetime,” organizers of “Conspire” say.
The conference’s name, “Conspire,” is the combination of the words “connect” and “inspire.”
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