Our church has a reader sign in front of the very busy road we are located on. Having appropriate and insightful and very concise (less the 140 character) messages on the sign can sometimes be challenging.
• Generally we get positive feedback
• From time to time it has been quite negative
• Sometimes we what we displayed didn't mean to passers by what we thought it meant to us
So I am sensitive concerning others and the messages they display. This then is not meant to be a criticism but a matter of thought.
The message I on another church's sign today reads, "Children brought up in church are seldom caught in jail."
First, there is some question as to the accuracy of the statement
The word seldom may be the saving statement of the message. Perhaps it is true that per capita church kids end up in jail less than kids who have not grown up in church. But I have met plenty of adults who grew up in church, some in fundamental Baptist churches, who have done time; hard time. My friends involved prison ministry have testified that lots of church kids and even preachers kids are locked up right now. So the message is cute and hopeful but might not be true.
More seriously though, I question the point of the statement
And would go so far as to say it is dangerous. It is the wrong message. It makes the church out to be the hope of the family, the hope of our children and the rescuer of the potential inmate. The church is not the hope; Christ is.
This is tantamount to being a false gospel. It is probably what most people who attend church think is the gospel and it is damning families to heartbreak when their kids go bad, bitterness at the church, and eternity in hell. They placed their hope in church, not in Jesus Christ.
Church is terribly important. I would suggest that the professing Christian who sees no need for church membership, worship and service has never met Christ as Saviour. But church is not the Saviour. Sometimes a person glosses over the Saviour, to get into the church where they have been led to believe their help lies. They assume salvation and then commence into church life expecting to have all their problems resolved there. That's backwards. We must become in love and engrossed in the things of God. That is the most likely way our kids will come to be saved and learn to love the Lord themselves.
• Generally we get positive feedback
• From time to time it has been quite negative
• Sometimes we what we displayed didn't mean to passers by what we thought it meant to us
So I am sensitive concerning others and the messages they display. This then is not meant to be a criticism but a matter of thought.
The message I on another church's sign today reads, "Children brought up in church are seldom caught in jail."
First, there is some question as to the accuracy of the statement
The word seldom may be the saving statement of the message. Perhaps it is true that per capita church kids end up in jail less than kids who have not grown up in church. But I have met plenty of adults who grew up in church, some in fundamental Baptist churches, who have done time; hard time. My friends involved prison ministry have testified that lots of church kids and even preachers kids are locked up right now. So the message is cute and hopeful but might not be true.
More seriously though, I question the point of the statement
And would go so far as to say it is dangerous. It is the wrong message. It makes the church out to be the hope of the family, the hope of our children and the rescuer of the potential inmate. The church is not the hope; Christ is.
This is tantamount to being a false gospel. It is probably what most people who attend church think is the gospel and it is damning families to heartbreak when their kids go bad, bitterness at the church, and eternity in hell. They placed their hope in church, not in Jesus Christ.
Church is terribly important. I would suggest that the professing Christian who sees no need for church membership, worship and service has never met Christ as Saviour. But church is not the Saviour. Sometimes a person glosses over the Saviour, to get into the church where they have been led to believe their help lies. They assume salvation and then commence into church life expecting to have all their problems resolved there. That's backwards. We must become in love and engrossed in the things of God. That is the most likely way our kids will come to be saved and learn to love the Lord themselves.
