Sunday Church

While I enjoy attending Khmer church (particularly for the music and expanding my language), it has just not worked with kids. For them, the services are long and unintelligible so they quickly become fidgety and difficult. I can persevere armed with food, colouring books and a well-chosen toy but it’s just not worth it. I’d much rather the congregation focus on the message than my children’s antics.

So, I have been attending a small English-speaking church with the children while Steve continued at a Khmer church. However, being a single Mum for a morning means that I am always too busy and distracted to either connect or contribute. Without fail, I run off early to get Lion Cub to bed, sometimes even before the sermon begins.

Like many parents, my primary reasons for attending church were so that my children could “go to Sunday school”, connect with other Christian children and develop a life-long habit of church going. But I am coming to realise how ridiculous these aims are for my family.

What “Sunday School” could be better than Steve and I sharing our own faith and reliance on God in the every day, teaching them God’s values and character through loving discipline / discipling, and keeping night time routines that include bible stories, prayer and worship?

And, why do they need another opportunity to develop Christian friends when they already attend a Christian school for misso kids?

And finally, do I really want my children to be church-goers out of HABIT??

The church that I would rather my children see on a Sunday is one where they have an opportunity to develop their faith in action by reaching out to others – what some call a missional church. I have no idea what that might look like for me and my young family, but I am excited to finally be thinking outside of the box.