Building Influential Community for Your Children

What do you think when you hear the word “influence?” What about the word “community?” When it comes to your children, these can be two of the most important concepts to consider!

Children are constantly being influenced –by their teachers, by their peers, by culture, by advertising, by movies and shows, by everything.

What if we were intentional about building an influential community for our children – community that aligns with our faith, values, and vision for our family? How would we even go about that?

Here are a handful of ideas.  

Lead by example.

In other words, start with your own community.

Are you surrounding yourself with people you want to influence your children? Are they raising children (if they have any) who you want influencing your children? Who are your closest friends? What are those friendships teaching your children to look for in a friendship?

If you don’t have a lot of friendships, what can you do to start initiating or building those relationships? For your sake (because you need people, too!), but also for the sake of your children?

The Meck Institute has a rotating list of parenting classes that can pull double duty - not only will you be challenged and inspired by the course material, but you’ll probably end up making other parent friends along the way who are also trying to raise children who follow Christ. Or, you could join a serving team in your child’s age group at MecKidz. This is a great way to meet other families at Meck! 

Be consistent.

Relationships are built over time and through consistency. So, be consistent. If there’s a family you want to get to know, then schedule regular times to get together, have them over for dinner, or plan to go to the same Meck service each weekend.

Speaking of Meck services, be consistent there, too. Attend the same weekly service so your child gets to have the same small group leader(s) and, generally, be with the same group of kids. Make it a point to get to know your child’s MecKidz small group leader. Talk with them about your desire to be intentional about the community surrounding your kids. We have the most amazing MecKidz volunteers, and they would love to help support you however they can.

Be proactive.

As parents, you do have some choices about who influences your kids. Be proactive and selective about who you use as babysitters, coaches, piano teachers, and carpool buddies. It may not always be most convenient, but choosing Christ-honoring adults and teens to be in these influential roles can be a game changer for your kids. This also applies to media and online influences. If you’re ever looking for safe and Christ-honoring online material, MecKidz Online has you covered.  

Pray for it.

Pray that God would provide influential community for your kids. Pray they would make friends that would positively impact them. Pray for your community – that God would give you godly friends. Pray He’d present you with opportunities. 

You were made for relationships – and so were your kids. So, ask God to give you and your children influential relationships.

 

Categories

Written By