Imagine What Might Happen to Families....

I don't want to clog up the Connexus blog with all kinds of extra thoughts, so I thought I'd share a bit more here.  If you want to know what's happening this week at Connexus, check this out and follow updates here.  We're fasting and praying over the things that break the heart of God this week.

Ten of us gathered to pray this morning at a high school in Barrie.  Wondered whether we'd fill the hour.  Had no trouble with that.  And subjectively, I think I began to feel more of God's heart for families.  Barrie and area has just over 170,000 people in it.  Of those, here are the demographics for under 24s:

• 11,070 college aged people 20-24
• 12,960 high school aged teens
• 26,235 elementary aged kids
• 10,830 preschoolers

I started to imagine what would happen if those numbers were written on the back of every volunteer's name badge in our family ministry environments.  We might be caring for a dozen or two children in Waumba Land each Sunday, and  we would congratulate ourselves for sure if we reached 150 kids in Waumba Land.  But what if each Sunday we realized that there were 10,830 preschooler in our community and most don't go to church (only 8% do)?

Would our hearts start to break more each Sunday if we realized that there are over 26,000 elementary aged kids in Barrie? Almost 13,000 high school kids?  11,000 college kids?  Those numbers are starting to grip me....  In Orillia, there are over 9,000 people aged 24 and under.  The math again becomes overwhelming.

What about their families?  What about their parents?  What's going on in those homes?

I feel like we barely have our toe in the pond on reaching families...but then we worship a God who breaks rules and walks on water. 

What would motivate us better to care for families in our communities better? Today, I'm praying God would bust my heart over this stuff more than its ever been busted.

Comments

[dan scott]

I love your thoughts here. We've been having similar discussion in family ministries here. 50,000 unchurched KIDS, not even teens on this side of GR. That's just a mind-blowing number. And we're reaching roughly .03% of them! It's a shame, and making sure that number goes higher means pretty much revamping a whole lot of ministry. And right now I'm only at the beginning of what that might look like...

Anyway, keep up the good work. Thanks for spilling your heart on the ..er...page again.

[Laurie]

I can't seem to access the locations for prayer on the website, so... i prayed for all the families on our street, the ones I know and the ones I haven't met. I was in a doctor's waiting room so I prayed for each person I saw there. If each one of us looked after our neighbours then our neighbourhoods would be different. It's kind of like Nehemiah having each household fix their portion of the wall. i think he wants us to srenghthen the outer wall but open the inner doors of communication.