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Have you been thinking about going back to church? Maybe you are going to try regularly attending a local worship service for the first time since you became a parent. Maybe you didn’t grow up in a family who did church. Or perhaps you did and now you are trying to figure out how your parents managed to wrangle all the kids and get their every week.
Well, our family has regularly attended worship since we were married. Even before my husband went into ministry. Here are 5 tips we learned from being a family just like yours, just trying to make spiritual growth a part of our family’s life.
- You have to start before Sunday morning. It is isn’t “are we going to church on Sunday?” it is “when we go to church on Sunday.” A regular church attendance habit begins with the mindset that during that time each week, church is where you will be. It is a “set in stone”, barring an accident or illness, appointment with your church family you and your household will keep.
Be careful what you prioritize on your calendar. It is telling when we can attend ballgames, concerts, meetings, etc. all week and then somehow not have time for Bible Class, Worship Assembly and other activities of the church. What message are we sending to our children? We all need margins in our calendar, leaving none during the week leads to families choosing Sunday mornings for their downtime rather than attending worship.
- Plan Sunday lunch. If it is in your budget to eat out on Sunday, then do so but keep in mind restaurants are full and your children will be hungry and ready to move. If you want to eat at home and like to save your eating out budget for more fun occasions, plan a simple meal in advance, as in before heading out for your weekly grocery shopping.
Traditionally Sunday dinners for many involved a pretty nice meal but often meant mom rising super early and then having much to clean up afterwards. Consider something you can make ahead Friday or Saturday and re-heat or throw in the crockpot to warm. I do not have one, but it seems Sunday would be the perfect application for an Instant Pot. Consider one pot or one pan meals. Simplify your meal and give yourself more of a sabbath rest. The important thing is a nourishing meal which your family sits down together to enjoy, maybe even with another family.
- Keep Saturday evening clear. Another habit which helped us probably more than anything was putting a buffer between Saturday night and Sunday morning. Most of our Sunday morning issues arose when we did too much or stayed up too late on Saturday evening. We began putting margin on Saturday evening. We did and still do try hard not to commit to anything past 8:00 on Saturday night. This is not easy, especially if you live in a big city but it is attainable, and it makes a huge difference in your attitude, stress and attention span.
We even set our teenagers curfew earlier on Saturday night than Friday night. If you want it to be a better experience, you do things to achieve it. Yelling at each other on the way, being really late and dozing off during the service does not make it a good experience. It does contribute to you, your spouse and your children to not want to ever do it again. Prevent this with planning.
- Get your clothes and your child’s clothes ready the night before. I don’t know how many times we did not know we were missing our better shoes until the night before or even Sunday morning. Our boys were especially bad about leaving their nicer clothes wadded up in a bag with their shoes when they changed at a friend’s home or for a youth activity. I am guilty myself of trying on four different things before finding something “that worked”. If you want to reduce the stress, make picking out ahead of time a habit.Note, I am not endorsing a specific dress code for worship, however most of us want to present our best and to have clean, neat clothes when we leave the house. This takes planning, even for Sundays.
- Last, prepare to be disappointed and surprised. You may be shocked I am saying this, but I am a realist and here is the truth. The church is made up of people. People are sinners; therefore, they are sometimes disappointing. You may find something about church and worship frustrating. No, you will find something you don’t like. The truth is someone else will like it and this is the beauty of being in community with a church. We are all different and together we make a beautiful patchwork quilt who are just trying to glorify God in our daily lives. Prepare to be surprised at all the ways your church family will do this. It is amazing and worth creating the habit of regularly attending worship together.
