As we start a fresh new school year, I really want to caution the over-zealous and too spiritual parents about really wearing your kids out in excessive church services. This is usually a problem in Pentecostal Denominations because somehow we equate the number of hours spent in church with our “spirituality.”  I have come to the conclusion that ignorance is no longer bliss. Parents you must do better. Keeping your children in church all day Sunday and then expecting them to perform exceptionally in school is just unfair. It is important that you began to create balance and break from the old conventions of legalism. I have come to several conclusions that I would like to share with parents:

1. The number of hours spent in church, are not directly proportional to your ability to get in touch with the heart of God.
2. The attention span of most individuals, including you, is about 20-30 minutes. After this, the rest is gravy.
3. Eating on the run( McDonald’s Popeye’s Fried Chicken, etc) and failure to sit down with your children for a nice quiet  Sunday dinner can often break the cycle of communication.
4. No one is really impressed with your commitment to a particular church organization if you still have a nasty attitude.
5. Just because you are in church all the time, does not make you a better person than the average.

If you want to meet a mean and surly person, check out some of the “saints.” They have no real balance in their lives and many of us are overweight. Have you ever sat out in the audience at church and counted the number of “fat” people in the choir. Their is usually a large number of obese individuals. It is now time for us to create more balance, in our lives and in the lives of our children. The answer to the question of how much church is too much church has to be answered by each individual family. However, I would like to make a couple of recommendations.

• Develop a personal prayer time outside of the local church(house) assembly.
• Spend quality time with yourself in personal development and meditation.
• Spend quality time with your children doing homework and other fun things.
• Go regularly to PTA and see what is new with your child’s curriculum.
• Work-Out or exercise at least 3-5 times a week.
• Take a nice, non-church related vacation or activity.