Search Results for: blog the biggest problem with church

Stranger Danger No Longer the Only Problem

It seems like lately all I am hearing are stories of child sexual abuse. Most of us are well aware of the Penn State scandal involving Jerry Sandusky, a former football coach. There are 10 alleged child victims. Then just this morning I hear on my local news station about the director of communications for the evangelical Lutheran organization, WELS, being arrested for charges of child pornography. Football coaches, religious leaders, teachers…the very ones we entrust our children to, taking advantage of their vulnerability and abusing their powers. Who can you trust anymore? Sadly, we live in a world where … Continue reading →

Visiting Church

Visiting another church can be a fun and interesting time or it can turn into a nightmare. Last Sunday Mick and I were going to visit our son and his family in Sydney, so we wanted a church that was on the way. Our first step was finding one that was evangelical and at a convenient time. But it’s always a bit of a risk going to another church. Some churches are just not good at welcoming strangers. We know we‘ve encountered it before. Friendliness is something many people have commented on in regard to our church, so it’s something … Continue reading →

The Biggest Problem with Church

Sometimes the biggest problem with church is people. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like people, I do. But I’ve come across a few incidents recently where people, and I’m talking Christian people who are part of the church, have been downright rude and unfeeling towards others. One that struck me particularly and I have see this a lot is where two or more people are engaged in a conversation and another person comes up and immediately cuts into the conversation and starts to talk as though what they have it say is more important. More often … Continue reading →

Family Home Evening: Troubleshoot Your Problems

Family home evening and family council are designed to help you bring more focus in your family life. At times it may feel like you are just going through the motions to meet each week as a family with family home evening or that your family council meetings are not as effective as you would like them to be. It is important to make the most of the time that you have together as a family. If you feel that your family home evenings are not effective ask yourself these five questions, and you will likely find yourself back on … Continue reading →

Parents of Teens Need Friends Too

I spent a good half hour late last night texting a friend. I sound like a teenager, don’t I? We were going back and forth, sharing our “teen” stories and encouraging each other. What I especially love about this friend is that she is one who can truly relate. We both have sons who are seniors. We both have daughters that are just one year apart and our youngest sons are both in 7th grade. In fact, all of our kids are very good friends, having grown up in the church together. One of the topics of our texting was … Continue reading →

Getting Out of Debt: It Begins

My husband and I are furiously trying to get out of debt. We just started Dave Ramsey’s Financial Freedom course and have learned a lot about doing just this. Follow us on our journey as we try to follow the plan and meet our goals. If you are thinking of taking the course, I highly recommend it. Even though my husband and I are pretty well practiced at saving money, we have already learned so much more than we thought we knew. While some weeks speak to us more than others, each weekly lesson has something that we take from … Continue reading →

Watch Your Words

Whether we like it or not, our words define us. They reveal out thoughts and heart attitudes. Jesus knew this. See Matthew 12:34-37 and Mark 7:15-23.You know it too. Listen to someone you know talk. It is easy to pick up clues about the type of person they are from the words they say and the tone of voice in which it is said. Impatience stubbornness, anger, impatience, jealousy will all show up in a person’s words or tone. So will love, gentleness, generosity, patience. Before you jump in and add your thoughts to a conversation, can I suggest you … Continue reading →

Feeling Burned Out?

Feeling burned out can lead to a very grumpy mommy. Grumpy mommies hardly make good homeschoolers. This can cause a year to dive into failure or at best just barely getting by. Making it by the skin of your teeth, will not result in a relief that it’s over but a sense of defeat and guilt that you didn’t provide your children the best of you. Your feelings of stress will bleed over to your children and they may have a poor attitude about school. Soon you will go round and round between bad attitudes or just simply giving up … Continue reading →

Christians and Depression

Christians should never suffer depression. That’s a common attitude from some people and it is decidedly wrong. People who claim Christians should never suffer depression have failed to understand a basic truth, that it is not something the person chooses to do. It is not showing a lack of faith or that they are lacking in their spiritual life. Depression is quite simply a medical condition like asthma or any other sickness. We don’t tell the person who has asthma it is because they don’t have enough faith or they are lacking in their spiritual life or if they prayed … Continue reading →

Parenting Teens Is Like a Roller Coaster Ride

I am so looking forward to July and August, as the church I attend will be holding a class both months on the topic of teenagers. July will be about teenage boys and August will be about teenage girls. They plan on covering the mental, physical, spiritual, social and psychological development of teenagers. I always believed that children should come with some sort of manual. Okay, maybe not really. However I do think that before a mother leaves the hospital she should be counseled in some way about what can be expected. We give birth and a day later we … Continue reading →