For many, including Christians, the church has become simply another consumer option. If I need it, I\u2019ll take advantage of it. If it doesn\u2019t fill my needs, I\u2019ll move on to something else. The Church may be good to have around if it\u2019s convenient or helpful, but it\u2019s not essential.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nI\u2019ve been in the church all of my life. I\u2019ve been a pastor for over 30 years. That will tip you off that I have a different, though minority, view of the church.<\/p>\n
I believe the church does matter. I believe the world needs a vibrant, dynamic, church.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say I\u2019m ignorant of the bad stuff caused in the name of the Church and Jesus over the years.<\/p>\n
At the same time, I realize that bad press sells. The moral failures of pastors, the public judgementalism of a congregation, financial scandal, etc., make great news stories.<\/p>\n
Unreported, however, are the hundreds of thousands of good things millions of churches are doing around the world every single day.<\/p>\n
No national news organization has told any of the stories of our congregation, for example: No news story on the on-going work we are doing in one of the most at-risk neighborhoods in our area. No coverage of the 270,000 meals we packed in a 24 hours period for hungry kids. No journalists interviewing us about the medical clinic we are helping to build in Rwanda.<\/p>\n
And we\u2019re just one medium-sized church out of millions around the world doing stuff like that every day which no one talks about, hears about, or reports on. But these churches are quietly going about the business of helping their communities in the name of Jesus, and the communities and the world is better for it. Millions of Christians each day quietly live out their faith by helping their neighbors, choosing integrity at work, and serving in their communities.<\/p>\n
I believe the church does matter.<\/p>\n
And I believe it matters now more than ever for your kids.<\/em><\/p>\nOver the next several weeks I hope you\u2019ll join me as I tease out some of the compelling reasons why the church matters to you, your kids, and the world.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Philip Yancey, in his book, What\u2019s so Amazing About Grace, opens up with a gut-wrenching story about a man who was approached by a prostitute in Chicago. She was homeless, broke, sick, and unable to feed her 2-year-old daughter. Through tears of shame she admitted that she had been renting out her daughter in order […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1621,"featured_media":1104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,7,10],"tags":[2,4,5,8,9],"class_list":["post-570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church","category-kids-2","category-parents-2","category-sunday-school","tag-boys","tag-church-2","tag-girls-2","tag-parents","tag-searching-for-tom-sawyer"],"yoast_head":"\n
Why Church Matters to Your Kids, Part 1: Does the Church Matter?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Philip Yancey, in his book, What\u2019s so Amazing About Grace, opens up with a gut-wrenching story about a man who was approached by a prostitute in Chicago.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Church Matters to Your Kids, Part 1: Does the Church Matter?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Philip Yancey, in his book, What\u2019s so Amazing About Grace, opens up with a gut-wrenching story about a man who was approached by a prostitute in Chicago.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Tim Wright Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-16T12:40:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/827\/2016\/07\/Unknown.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"216\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"210\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tim Wright\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim Wright\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/\",\"name\":\"Why Church Matters to Your Kids, Part 1: Does the Church Matter?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-16T12:40:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-04-16T12:40:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/#\/schema\/person\/d376e49ac40fe61bef02b93f41269340\"},\"description\":\"Philip Yancey, in his book, What\u2019s so Amazing About Grace, opens up with a gut-wrenching story about a man who was approached by a prostitute in Chicago.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Church Matters to Your Kids, Part 1: Does the Church Matter?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/\",\"name\":\"The Tim Wright Blog\",\"description\":\"Musings on God\u2019s bold, reckless grace\u2026and life in the middle\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/#\/schema\/person\/d376e49ac40fe61bef02b93f41269340\",\"name\":\"Tim Wright\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/12d5559111c8a68f11425c607bcfe664?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/12d5559111c8a68f11425c607bcfe664?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tim Wright\"},\"description\":\"I've been a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America since 1984, currently serving as the founding pastor of Community of Grace in Peoria, AZ. My wife, Jan and I, were married in 1979. We raised two kids and currently have 3 grandkids. I love to ride my bike, travel, read British Mysteries, and Disneyland. I have written 6 books, including my newest--Searching for Tom Sawyer: How Parents and Congregations Can Stop the Exodus of Boys From Church. My website: www.TimWrightMinistries.org\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.TimWrightMinistries.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/author\/twright\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Church Matters to Your Kids, Part 1: Does the Church Matter?","description":"Philip Yancey, in his book, What\u2019s so Amazing About Grace, opens up with a gut-wrenching story about a man who was approached by a prostitute in Chicago.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Church Matters to Your Kids, Part 1: Does the Church Matter?","og_description":"Philip Yancey, in his book, What\u2019s so Amazing About Grace, opens up with a gut-wrenching story about a man who was approached by a prostitute in Chicago.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/","og_site_name":"The Tim Wright Blog","article_published_time":"2015-04-16T12:40:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":216,"height":210,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/827\/2016\/07\/Unknown.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Tim Wright","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tim Wright","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/","name":"Why Church Matters to Your Kids, Part 1: Does the Church Matter?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-04-16T12:40:41+00:00","dateModified":"2015-04-16T12:40:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/#\/schema\/person\/d376e49ac40fe61bef02b93f41269340"},"description":"Philip Yancey, in his book, What\u2019s so Amazing About Grace, opens up with a gut-wrenching story about a man who was approached by a prostitute in Chicago.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/2015\/04\/why-church-matters-to-your-kids-part-1-does-the-church-matter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Church Matters to Your Kids, Part 1: Does the Church Matter?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/","name":"The Tim Wright Blog","description":"Musings on God\u2019s bold, reckless grace\u2026and life in the middle","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/#\/schema\/person\/d376e49ac40fe61bef02b93f41269340","name":"Tim Wright","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/12d5559111c8a68f11425c607bcfe664?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/12d5559111c8a68f11425c607bcfe664?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Tim Wright"},"description":"I've been a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America since 1984, currently serving as the founding pastor of Community of Grace in Peoria, AZ. My wife, Jan and I, were married in 1979. We raised two kids and currently have 3 grandkids. I love to ride my bike, travel, read British Mysteries, and Disneyland. I have written 6 books, including my newest--Searching for Tom Sawyer: How Parents and Congregations Can Stop the Exodus of Boys From Church. My website: www.TimWrightMinistries.org","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.TimWrightMinistries.org"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/author\/twright\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1621"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/timwright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Unknown\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchingfortomsawyer\/files\/2015\/04\/Unknown.png\")
<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n