With respect to student ministry, it usually takes until the 11th, 12th grade years for parents to ask me this question. “What can I do to get my kids more involved at church?”. I usually get this question after a service on Sunday. The question itself is relatively easy to address…but the implications and reasoning thereof is far more delicate to explain.

As Andy Stanley says in his book The Best Question Ever, “nobody plans to raise irresponsible, codependent children, but it’s clear from looking at society that a bunch of parents don’t plan not to”.  It seems that as a result of our extreme busyness our families end up being the buffer between our ‘extreme’ and ‘normal’.  In lieu of trying to dive into family dynamics and the psychology of time management, I will use a simple example.

Imagine what you would do if at the beginning of the year you were given $3,000.  You could use it for a vacation/entertainment fund, grocery fund or perhaps even a new car fund.  The point is, you would probably protect how you spent that money.  Dave Ramsey says that you have to make your money behave.  Simply put, you have to determine how to spend it. What if each one the $3,000 dollars in our illustration was an hour with our child?  Statistically we have 3,000 hours with our kids a year.  We can spend it doing sports, dance, watching TV or even fishing.  You see, the point is that you get to determine how you get to spend that time.  No one can control your calendar…only you can.

So why is it some parents come to me towards the end of high school and ask me to pour 40-50 hours into their child over the year so that they can know Jesus?  The point is, as parents, we have to first recognize that we have a finite amount of time with our children.  We have to recognize that the words we say, and the time that we spend IS important.

Andy Stanley said “Some of our greatest regrets have started with decisions to make selfish choices”.  Our selfish decisions can and do impact our children and their faith.  So the next time we have TIME to spend with our children, let’s spend it wisely and with an intentional focus on our family and the church.  Students need to see that church is a place that has meaning to us as parents.  They need to see that WE believe in the church.  Perhaps if we spent a portion of our 3,000 hours a year demonstrating this, we would not have to ask the question “what can I do to get my kids more involved?”