When we moved to Little Rock two years ago, I knew it would be easy to slip into the Bible Belt bubble. My husband’s job is with a Christian organization (FamilyLife), so surrounding ourselves with like-minded friends would be easy. Big, beautiful churches are within a few miles of our home, and I knew we could make great friends at church, too.
But is that all life is about—to be surrounding with fellow Christians and enjoy life? Deep inside I felt it wasn’t. How could I raise my child to believe the concept of “giving to the least of these” when I wasn’t making the effort to cross town and reach out?
Bubble-Breaking Church
We started by attending an inner-city church (mosaicchurch.net). We were surrounded by people who weren’t like us in many ways. I also began a support group for teenage mothers, and my town teens helped with it. My son Nathan was our door monitor, letting the young moms in. (Because of the area, we cannot leave the church doors unlocked). My daughter Leslie volunteered to babysit every week, and my toddler daughter, Alyssa, made quick friends with the other kids. Coming from Montana (and a church where most of the people were like us), we felt we were breaking out of the bubble big time . . . but was that enough?
Bubble-Breaking Neighborhood We were renting a house, and we knew our lease would be up soon. So we started checking out houses closer to the area we served. I could tell a teen mom, “I live right down the street, five minutes away,” instead of, “I live on the west [nice] side of town.” This is our community.
When we go to church or the grocery store, we see homeless people and lower-income people on a daily basis. As we built relationships in this part of town, we realized it’s not about “us helping them”—we realized we’re all the same and Jesus loves us all. Living on this side of town has increased our compassion as we build friendships and discover that we can find amazing people no matter where we live.
But isn’t Our Job as Parents to Help Our Kids Stay Innocent?
Right now our kids at home are twenty, eighteen, and two. The older two have been volunteering to help with teenage moms since they were elementary-school age. I remember when my daughter first started helping to babysit; she was only eight years old and heard all types of things come out of the mouths of the teen moms, like who was sleeping with whom, who had what disease, etc. At first I was horrified . . . my poor, innocent girl! Yet her questions about what she heard opened up amazing conversations about sexual purity, life choices, the way people are raised, economic poverty, etc.
Because of those conversations, my daughter became passionate about purity—after all she saw the consequences of sex outside of marriage. Just today I was talking via Skype to Leslie, who is on a two-month mission trip to the Czech Republic, and she told me she was asked to speak to a church youth group about sexual purity. You’ll never know how God will use your kids and how He’ll prepare them.
That being said, Alyssa is only two years old, and I do try to protect her from conversations with foul language and other things I don’t want her to hear. We do need to protect those little ears at times, especially during the ages when we can’t sit and have a long conversation about what they just heard.
But the Thought of Exposing My Kids Makes Me Nervous
Yes, anxiety comes when we expose our children to the hard things of life. As a parent, we want to protect our children. We want to keep them as innocent as we can, as long as possible. Yet we also must “go yet into the world.” (Isn’t that what Jesus commanded?) Needy, hurting people who need Christ are everywhere. The greatest example we can give our children of obeying Jesus is to show them people (who sometimes make bad choices and live hard lives) are different than us but that those people need to know about Jesus, too. It’s our job to tell them about Him!
As Christian parents, we don’t need to show our kids smut for smut’s sake. Instead, we need to point out people in need and show them that Jesus can transform anyone. Show them we can be the hands and feet of Jesus as we give, love, and serve.
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12 Comments
When my daughter entered public school, after going to a private Christian school, I was nervous. And I was in shock at some of the things she heard, but like your daughter, she’s been a beacon of light in a dark place and she constantly amazes me.
This is a wonderful post, Tricia. It reaffirms I made the right choice.
Tricia, this is such an affirming post. Our kids were grown when we became Christians so we never faced the decisions of whether or not to stay within a Christian bubble.
Bless you and your family, and the wonderful work you do to help lift others up!
Kim, I truly believe that God will make His WILL clear for each of us. I’m so glad He’s using your daughter to be light. I believe He’ll call each one of us to break out of the bubble in different ways, but the purpose is to be light to a dark world.
Thank you for sharing this! We love serving as a family, and are lonely at times because we don’t fit in the bubble. Your note encouraged me to embrace the calling, being the hands and feet of Jesus. Thank you!
It’s a hard road to walk – do we absorb ourselves in culture to place ourselves around non-Christians, or do we stick with the safety of our Christian bubble?
Obviously it’s something that we all must consider with prayer and wisdom.
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But isn’t Our Job as Parents to Help Our Kids Stay Innocent?
When my daughter entered public school, after going to a private Christian school, I was nervous. And I was in shock at some of the things she heard, but like your daughter, she’s been a beacon of light in a dark place and she constantly amazes me.
This is a wonderful post, Tricia. It reaffirms I made the right choice.
Tricia, this is such an affirming post. Our kids were grown when we became Christians so we never faced the decisions of whether or not to stay within a Christian bubble.
Bless you and your family, and the wonderful work you do to help lift others up!
Kim, I truly believe that God will make His WILL clear for each of us. I’m so glad He’s using your daughter to be light. I believe He’ll call each one of us to break out of the bubble in different ways, but the purpose is to be light to a dark world.
Thanks for your comment!
Kim, thank you for your note. It sounds like you have an amazing story of God’s transformation in your life! He’s so amazing!
Thank you for sharing this! We love serving as a family, and are lonely at times because we don’t fit in the bubble. Your note encouraged me to embrace the calling, being the hands and feet of Jesus. Thank you!
Come hand out with us, drivesideways, you won’t be lonely!
Actually, a better solution is to PRAY for God to bring like-minded friends. He can do it!
It’s a hard road to walk – do we absorb ourselves in culture to place ourselves around non-Christians, or do we stick with the safety of our Christian bubble?
Obviously it’s something that we all must consider with prayer and wisdom.
Points well made. Thanks for the challenge!
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Awesome and true account!!! Very inspiring!!! Thank you very much!!!
Great post, Tricia. It’s not about us, it’s about serving/loving others.
Thanks for your encouragement. I’d love to get my kids involved with helping somewhere. Xx