What is Your Role in the Village?

By Maria Zahasky, director of children's ministry

In recent years, the quote, "It takes a village to raise a child," has received quite a bit of attention in the educational world. While some view this idea as controversial, I would assert that it is both true and necessary in the church: It takes a community of believers to raise a child.

The church I attended while growing up was very fond of passing out refrigerator magnets. The refrigerator magnet of choice featured the Bible verse Proverbs 22:6, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." This magnet hung on our refrigerator all of my growing-up years, and was often quoted by my mother. However, what I found most interesting about this magnet was that it not only hung in the homes of church members with children, but it also hung in the homes of church members with no children, or grown children. The message was clear: as a church community we will work together to raise the children in our church community.

Every day, as children turn on the television, listen to the radio, or even go to school, the world is telling them what to believer and whom to become. We are in competition with a huge force, and we are going to lose if we don't work together. Parents need help, and children need godly role models in their lives other than their parents. In the later years of high school I was faced with a huge decision -- whether or not to join my friends in under-age drinking. In the moment I was faced with that decision, Genee's voice popped into my head.

Genee was one of the counselors in my youth group who had led my seventh-grade Bible study. As I faced this decision I remember Genee telling me how she had chosen not to participate in under-age drinking because it didn't honor God. In that moment I chose to follow in her footsteps; I wanted to honor God with my life, just as I had seen her do.

By no means do I want to downplay the significant role that parents have in the lives of their children. Parents need to be the No. 1 godly influence in their child's life, but they can't be the only one. As a church community, we need to join parents in raising the children in our midst. We all need to ask ourselves what our role in the village is going to be. Children need Sunday school teachers, bible study leaders, youth counselors, VBS leaders, confirmation teachers, prayer warriors, and the list goes on. The children of our church need us to take an interest in their lives, and we need to do it now. Television, radio, and magazines are doing a great job of influencing the children of our church. Are we?