You have women like Suzanna Wesley who have been instrumental in spiritually molding their children. So, I think it should have always been a job of BOTH mothers and fathers to guide their children spiritually. I believe the American Christian church is facing a crisis of credibility right now. The main reason it is losing attendance is due to it exchanging spiritual power and authority for the pursuit of earthly political power. That's always been a losing battle every time the church has chosen that path through history.
Indeed, it was both in many cases. But in the colonies, catechism especially fell upon the fathers. As for losing attendance, there are many reasons, one of which is most certainly the alliance of evangelicals with Trump. But the roots of that, of course, go back to the Moral Majority of the 80's.
So, my husband and I read this. He can’t leave carpentry to have a desk job he can do from home. But there are other things we can change to go backwards from the Industrial Revolution and live more “pioneer”. The biggest thing which came to my mind was getting rid of the biggest byproduct of the Industrial Revolution- “stuff”. There’s just so much stuff. An absurd amount of toys, clothes, gear, etc, that just fills our house and makes us anxious. While talking about it we realized we see symptoms of anxiety in our children and we think that minimalism and simplicity could really change things! Simplifying possessions and streamlining activities, having less toys so more play is involving doing real things- kneading daily bread instead of play doh for example. I’m already a stay at home, homeschool mom. My husband is home as much as possible and very involved with the kids and loves them every minute of his time with them. He doesn’t get morning Bible time with them much, but he leads dinner prayer and bedtime prayer. We’re not ready to cancel the WiFi but I could start shopping for a dumb phone. Thanks Mark.
Loved this, Veta. Sorry for the slow response. Your family is very countercultural by comparison with most. We can't convert to being Amish, but we can make adjustments, which you are most definitely describing above. Stuff is indeed a problem. We can't seem to say no. And cell phones in general keep kids connected to their peers more than being connected to Mom and Dad. Yep, we all need to walk wisely these days.
My friend and I had a conversation the other day about how our modern culture (Christian and secular) tends to view formation as something where you need to add things to the equation...more books, more mentors, more church/small group attendance, more education, etc.
If you look back to the Desert Fathers, though, they seemed to view discipleship and growth as addition by subtraction. As the desert would take various comforts and 'stuff' away from you, you became shaped by the lack of things, rather than the plethora of things.
Your thoughts about the Desert Fathers correspond with something I read yesterday. Test scores for kids began plunging in 2010 when cell phone usage exploded. So now some schools are forbidding the use of phones.
We have such a strong desire to be good parents, raising kids with the best stuff so that they can keep up with their peers and not feel left out. A radical shift in our thinking is required, and a stern strength to say no to them and to ourselves.
You are right, Brad. The Desert Fathers point in that direction. While no one is going to take their families to live in a cave, a starting point might be to do without the "man cave", showing by example that the "cares and riches and pleasures of life" do indeed choke out the word of God in our lives and leave us unfruitful. (Lk 8:14)
I have no idea what @Desert Fathers” are but I love the idea. Look at what Moses and Yeshua accomplished in the desert. My friend and I, both homeschool moms, we’re praying for wisdom in finding time to be alone with Father God and as I prayed I said “oh for the luxury of time to go fast in the desert!” And I had to laugh thinking of how Yeshua would laugh at me for thinking that fasting and being tempted in the desert was a luxury. But really! I always have the job of feeding and comforting my little children, making them uncomfortable only as much as they can handle for the purpose of forming their character like by having them work hard in school or enjoy a hike in slightly less than perfect weather. To make them fast or to take away other comforts would be looked down on. So when can I be uncomfortable? When can I go and endure and get alone and quiet? I love this addition by subtraction. It all makes me want off grid life! I don’t have the skills but it is morally appealing.
Yeah, I agree that the decline in attendance does go back to the Moral Majority of the 80s as well. The church is often perceived as hypocritical. I know people like you and I are trying to be more transparent to show that we aren't claiming to be better than other people.
You have women like Suzanna Wesley who have been instrumental in spiritually molding their children. So, I think it should have always been a job of BOTH mothers and fathers to guide their children spiritually. I believe the American Christian church is facing a crisis of credibility right now. The main reason it is losing attendance is due to it exchanging spiritual power and authority for the pursuit of earthly political power. That's always been a losing battle every time the church has chosen that path through history.
Indeed, it was both in many cases. But in the colonies, catechism especially fell upon the fathers. As for losing attendance, there are many reasons, one of which is most certainly the alliance of evangelicals with Trump. But the roots of that, of course, go back to the Moral Majority of the 80's.
So, my husband and I read this. He can’t leave carpentry to have a desk job he can do from home. But there are other things we can change to go backwards from the Industrial Revolution and live more “pioneer”. The biggest thing which came to my mind was getting rid of the biggest byproduct of the Industrial Revolution- “stuff”. There’s just so much stuff. An absurd amount of toys, clothes, gear, etc, that just fills our house and makes us anxious. While talking about it we realized we see symptoms of anxiety in our children and we think that minimalism and simplicity could really change things! Simplifying possessions and streamlining activities, having less toys so more play is involving doing real things- kneading daily bread instead of play doh for example. I’m already a stay at home, homeschool mom. My husband is home as much as possible and very involved with the kids and loves them every minute of his time with them. He doesn’t get morning Bible time with them much, but he leads dinner prayer and bedtime prayer. We’re not ready to cancel the WiFi but I could start shopping for a dumb phone. Thanks Mark.
Loved this, Veta. Sorry for the slow response. Your family is very countercultural by comparison with most. We can't convert to being Amish, but we can make adjustments, which you are most definitely describing above. Stuff is indeed a problem. We can't seem to say no. And cell phones in general keep kids connected to their peers more than being connected to Mom and Dad. Yep, we all need to walk wisely these days.
My friend and I had a conversation the other day about how our modern culture (Christian and secular) tends to view formation as something where you need to add things to the equation...more books, more mentors, more church/small group attendance, more education, etc.
If you look back to the Desert Fathers, though, they seemed to view discipleship and growth as addition by subtraction. As the desert would take various comforts and 'stuff' away from you, you became shaped by the lack of things, rather than the plethora of things.
Your thoughts about the Desert Fathers correspond with something I read yesterday. Test scores for kids began plunging in 2010 when cell phone usage exploded. So now some schools are forbidding the use of phones.
We have such a strong desire to be good parents, raising kids with the best stuff so that they can keep up with their peers and not feel left out. A radical shift in our thinking is required, and a stern strength to say no to them and to ourselves.
You are right, Brad. The Desert Fathers point in that direction. While no one is going to take their families to live in a cave, a starting point might be to do without the "man cave", showing by example that the "cares and riches and pleasures of life" do indeed choke out the word of God in our lives and leave us unfruitful. (Lk 8:14)
I have no idea what @Desert Fathers” are but I love the idea. Look at what Moses and Yeshua accomplished in the desert. My friend and I, both homeschool moms, we’re praying for wisdom in finding time to be alone with Father God and as I prayed I said “oh for the luxury of time to go fast in the desert!” And I had to laugh thinking of how Yeshua would laugh at me for thinking that fasting and being tempted in the desert was a luxury. But really! I always have the job of feeding and comforting my little children, making them uncomfortable only as much as they can handle for the purpose of forming their character like by having them work hard in school or enjoy a hike in slightly less than perfect weather. To make them fast or to take away other comforts would be looked down on. So when can I be uncomfortable? When can I go and endure and get alone and quiet? I love this addition by subtraction. It all makes me want off grid life! I don’t have the skills but it is morally appealing.
Yeah, I agree that the decline in attendance does go back to the Moral Majority of the 80s as well. The church is often perceived as hypocritical. I know people like you and I are trying to be more transparent to show that we aren't claiming to be better than other people.