Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Conversations That Would Never Happen

Lonnie:  Hi Coach.
Coach:  Hi Lonnie. Its good to see you. Did you come to watch the game?
Lonnie:  Well, I came to watch, and play. Can't wait to get a little action.
Coach:  Maybe I should talk to your folks. Are they here?
Lonnie:  Sure, Dad's over by the concession stand.
Coach:  Thanks.

Coach:  Hello Mr. Westfall.
Mr. Westfall:  Hey Coach. How's life? Ready for the game?
Coach:  Ready as we're going to be I guess. We've practiced hard. That's kind of what I need to talk to you about.
Mr. Westfall:  What do you mean?
Coach:  Lonnie hasn't been here in four weeks. He missed eight practices. I actually thought he had quit the team. I can't really let him play today without practicing.
Mr. Westfall:  But he's your best player. Don't you want to win?
Coach:  Lonnie is very talented. But the other kids have practiced and bonded as a team. It just wouldn't be right to start Lonnie and I really don't even think he should play today.
Mr. Westfall:  Coach, the truth is you are not much fun. Your practices are kind of boring. And none of Lonnie's friends are on this team. Most of his friends play for the Warriors so we've been letting him go to their practices. He has a good time there. But, this is still our team so we brought him to play today. You're being very unreasonable, Coach. Just let him play. Let's not turn this in to a difficult situation.

Nope, that conversation would never happen because we take sports very seriously. If we put a child on a team we expect them to be committed to that team. Church however, is another story. If our kid doesn't like something about our church, or someone at the church, or if they have friends at another church, then our solution is to let them go with their friends as often as they want and then come to church with us every now and then.

Let me be clear. Churches are not in competition with one another. I'm not comparing sports and church from the standpoint of competition. I'm comparing sports and church from the standpoint of commitment. We expect our kids to be committed to the team we sign them up for (or that drafts them). If they don't have friends on the team, they make new ones. If they don't like one of the coaches they suck it up and learn to respect authority. But when it comes to church none of that applies. We think of church as a place to make our kids happy. No longer is church about a transcendent cause. Rather it is about fun, feelings, and personal fancies.

Church membership. What does it mean to you? Do you back that up with your actions and how you train your kids?