Now as you are thinking about the
word “fun,” I want you to think about how that connects to church and your
relationship with God. For some of you
the two concepts seem to go hand-in-hand without question. You see find humor in challenging situations
and enjoy laughing (a lot). But for some
of you the concept of fun, laughter, and joy seem to be an antonym for what
happens in church. For some people the
church has done a great job of ingraining the following thought into our minds,
“If it feels good or makes us happy it must be a sin.” Joy, laughter, and frankly life have been
completely eliminated from the equation of what it means to be a Christian. If you are in this boat I would like to echo
some words that one of our pastors said a few weeks ago (with a slight
amendment), “If any of you have experienced the depletion of your joy as a
result of something that happened in the church, I extend an apology to
you. This is a place of joy!”
In my opinion the halls of every
church should ring out with laughter, joy, hugs, and a passion for life that
simply can’t be explained short of the glory of God. However, many churches and Christians have
forgotten how to laugh and have fun. An
example of this happened this past week as our youth mission team was preparing
to be commissioned to go out and serve on our yearly trip. As we waiting to come into the sanctuary the
noise coming from the gathering area began to elevate. As I went out to tell the students to be a
little quieter (I know what fun am I), one of them looked at me and simply
said, “But we are so excited about going on this trip!” I quickly thought up a reply which we used as
a teachable moment later that morning in our adult training which went something
like, “You can’t have joy in church.”
The students began laughing even harder as they understood my sarcasm
and joke, but a couple of the adults gave me a look like, “Is he serious?” Of course I was kidding as I have found
laughter and fun to be some of the most therapeutic things to my soul.
You see giving a child or student
fun over their lifetime creates a strong connection. As author Reggie Joiner and Kristin Ivy state
in their book Playing for Keeps, “As
adult leaders and parents, we need to take our cue from kids and start acting
like fun matters” (p. 182). Fun does
matter and it is extremely important to foster a healthy relationship with the
children/students we work with not to mention our own children. A practical way to start learning how to
implement fun into your life is to stop taking yourself so serious. I learned this several years ago and wished
that I had learned it earlier. By not
taking myself so seriously I have found the freedom to laugh, point out the
mistakes that I have made, and simply have more fun. Take a moment and ask yourself, “Are you
taking yourself too seriously?” If so
what steps can you take to start alleviating this tension in your life and
begin having more fun?
Are you implementing “fun” into your
life and relationships? As Christians we
should be the most joyful, positive, happy, playful, and fun people on the
planet. As a parent this may be
challenging because we may lose focus of our overarching goal of influence due
to the challenges that parenting presents.
However, by loosening up, learning what our children like (and doing it
with them), and losing the agenda we are instilling the connection to our
families through fun.
The lives of our children/students are
extremely important so we need to be intentional about utilizing fun in order
to better direct their life in a positive direction. As a parent or an adult leader we can’t make
a kid love God, have faith or care about what matters but we can give them
time, love, words, stories, tribes, and fun throughout their lifetime. We look forward to partnering with you and
sharing in this discussion as we seek to impact the next generation with the
combined influence of parents and the church!
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