From Milk to Meat to Milk

Around the time we found out I was going to have our 3rd child, I had been feeling the Lord leading us to make a change in churches.  We had been attending our current church for almost 7 years and were teaching kids small groups (Sunday school).  We really enjoyed it.  However, while we were at church (for 4 hours) we never saw our kids.  It just started not to feel right.  We were putting in alot of effort to teach other peoples kids, but not ours.  Now granted, we did Bible study at home, but not much.  We spent alot of time studying and preparing and decorating for our small group class on Wednesdays and Sundays.  The more and more we prayed and talked and prayed some more, we felt like we should try a new approach.  So we joined a Family Integrated church in Oneonta which is about 20 minutes away.  This was a big deal since our old church was about 5 minutes away.  At our new church, the kids sat with us, worshiped with us, listened to teaching with us and sat with us for communion.  It was very refreshing and very hard at the same time.  Our kids were used to being entertained at church and this was boring.  We took coloring books and colors and for a while we let them doodle.  But after a month or so we starting asking them to sit still and listen.  It seemed so foreign to them.  Why?  Because we had never asked it of them before.  I think sometimes we dumb down our kids.  We dont give them credit for what they might be able to do.  We just entertain them with kiddy stuff because we dont think they can handle "adult" stuff i.e. the Bible and the Gospel.  But the world doesnt treat them that way.  The world tries to give them adult tastes and fashion and movies and music.  They are exposed all the time to things that are more mature than they are and they adapt.  But for some reason we felt like they couldnt handle the Bible and the Gospel as it was, so we had to decorate it and make it more "kid friendly" or "age appropriate".  But they are adjusting just fine.  And they see the other kids sitting and listening, so they do the same.  And its a work in progress but its progress.  And we see the light at the end of the tunnel and we are having real conversations with our kids about salvation and Almighty God.
Another thing that has happened is that we have realized that after all these years, we are still baby Christians.  I think we had gotten to the point that we thought we were kindof "seasoned" so to speak, because we taught small groups and even got to speak a time or two.  But being around this new group of Christians, we have realized how little we know.  There are many there who are way more mature spiritually and have alot to teach us.  There are men and women there that we admire and aspire to be like, and this is a good thing.