One of the (many) things I am thankful to my parents for is the way they were role models for me with regards to church attendance. I wasn't always super thankful when I was a young person, but we were at church regularly on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, and Wednesday nights, plus youth special events once we got older.
In fact, I could probably count on one hand the number of times that we were we missed church growing up. I remember one time - it was September 13, 1978. I had just turned 12 and I begged my parents to allow me to stay home on Sunday night to watch the premiere of Battlestar Galactica. They said "yes" this one time, but this was a rare, rare exception. I think only other times I missed was due to illness or being out of town on vacation.
Church attendance was not optional for us growing up, and I learned to view the church as a kind of extended family. I played at church, served there, made friends there, learned there, and grew there. My involvement at church was an integral part of my life from an early age.
I think a lot of parents don't realize how important that kind of consistency is to a child or young person. There's an old saying that faith is often "more caught than taught." In other word, parents model for their kids the priority of a relationship with God by their regular involvement in corporate worship and church life.
Obviously it not a guarantee, but a great way to help encourage kids to have a vibrant faith and deep connection to a local church when they grow up is to model it for them through your consistent attendance at worship and involvement with your church family.
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