It seems we Christian parents live in a time when it is very difficult to find a suitable atmosphere to raise our children.  We want the small town surroundings so our children are not as subject to the influences of “gangs,” drive-by shootings, poor school conditions and the like.

             Yet we want them to have a good church life.  One that will encourage them to stay in church and thus close to God.  Yet it is often the very fact that we move to a small town that prevents our children from benefiting from the programs and outreach of a large youth group.

             If you are like me you become very denominational in your Christian outlook.  I am a Nazarene.  I will be the first to admit I stayed with the Church of the Nazarene primarily because I was raised that way.  But, as I grew to understand and appreciate the Nazarene doctrine I find that I now wish to stay with this church primarily because they base their doctrine on holiness.  Very few other denominations do so.  And none do so while also having the opportunities the Church of the Nazarene gives to its people. 

            I also greatly appreciate the Church of the Nazarene because it has not compromised its doctrine in any way.  In today’s culture, where it seems as though many churches, and even denominations, are giving in to the social wishes of the laity, the Church of the Nazarene has stood firm on what it believes the Bible teaches.  Even when that firm stand may have lost some people to other, seemingly more pliable denominations.

             I do not consider myself denominational in the sense that I believe only Nazarenes and a handful of good Christians from other denominations will make it to heaven.  I am convinced that there are many Christians in other denominations that walk closer to God than I ever will.  I am also certain that many Christians will find growth in these other denominations.  But I am confident that I will not.  My growth, as I am led by God at this time, is to be found only in the Church of the Nazarene.

            So, when I come to a small town like The Dalles, I find myself struggling with the need for personal growth in Christ up against my family’s need for their personal growth.  My children need to be in a place where they can have good Christian friends to apply proper and acceptable “Christ like” peer pressure.  My wife needs to feel the emotion of the Spirit of God as much as she needs to hear the Word of God preached.  I confess I would like more of that myself.

            What do I do then?  Do I stay with a small Nazarene church simply because I agree with their doctrine?  Do I go to another church simply to provide a “better” social life for my children?  Our little church has suffered so much because people have left it to find a larger church that offers more programs and outreach.  Do I stay so that I can be used by God to bring some of that outreach and some of those programs to our church?  If I do, am I doing so at the expense of the souls of my children?

            We cannot look at this from the perspective we had 20, or even 10 years ago.  We hear how families raised their children in a small church where they were only one of two or three teens.  The tendency is to say, “If those children made it through okay, then ours can as well.”  But life is different now, especially in a small town.  There is greater effort by the community to provide activities for the children.  More sports, more school activities and such, on Sunday’s, Wednesdays, and invariably at the same time something is going on at the church.

            Social life outside the church often conflicts with the need for our children to spend time in church worshiping God.  The risk is now our children may come to resent how often “church” takes them away from “life.”

            Maybe this is not so different from 20 years ago if considered by itself.  Though I believe we are proliferated more by society substituting legitimate activities for church activities.  I purposely use the word legitimate instead of worldly because many of the activities our community would have our children involved in are quite wholesome and commendable.  But they are more and more being held at a time traditionally set aside for worshiping God.

            There are other aspects to consider, however, that taken as a whole creates a society much different that 10 to 20 years ago.  A society that thereby places our children at greater risk than 10 to 20 years ago of losing their soul for eternity.

            There are too many changes to list in this type of article.  But just naming two or three will get the point across.  We’ve struggled for years with the fact that the mother no longer stays in the home with the exclusive purpose of raising a family.  She must now work outside the home just to help keep the family above ground financially. 

            But now it is even more critical than it was even 10 years ago.  For one thing children are more mobile these days, especially in a small town.  They are no different that were we as teenagers in that they demand to constantly be doing something, anything.  The family cannot always be there to watch out for them.  A good church, with a good Christ centered youth group, would go a long way towards providing the release these kids need.

            It is not that the church needs to be there 24 hours a day providing some kind of program for the kids.  Rather it is that a good church group will provide the teen or child with friends who will be more apt to apply the kind of peer pressure we as parents can more readily live with.