Every Church Can Give Families a Shared Experience

Even the best parents need consistent voices encouraging them to stay in sync and to create a strong rhythm to build faith in their homes.
 
I am convinced that one of the best ways to stimulate the rhythm of a family is to create frequent shared experiences for that family.
 
The premise is simple: parents and kids need time together in a shared environment on a frequent basis.
 
However, instead of getting kids excited about what their parents believe by putting them in a service designed for adults, we should get parents excited about what we are teaching their children by putting adults in an environment designed for kids.
 
Why?
 
Parents have approximately 3,000 hours in a given year to influence the heart and life of their child. In comparison, church leaders have approximately 40 hours with a child each year.
 
It’s simple math. If you want to influence kids, you need to start with those who have the most potential to influence them: their parents. That’s the idea behind a Family Experience, or what we call an FX. It’s a place where kids take their parents to learn.
 
Creating a shared experience for families reflects the idea that what happens at home is more important—more consistent, more lasting, more influential in the life of a child—than what happens at church.
 
So what is an FX exactly? Well, we’ve defined it this way: An FX is an experience that’s designed to be shared by parents and children to help them do family better.
 
We believe that this experience should be interactive. It should be fun. It should include other families, and in some cases may even involve a level of production.
 
The video below is an FX showcase from Orange Conference 2015. This showcase displays what an FX could look like, along with a breakdown of each segment that can go into creating a successful FX to capture the imagination of families in your community.
[media link=”https://vimeo.com/131018624″]
 
The goal is for every church—no matter the size—to create an experience that engages families together. And contrary to what you may believe, AN FX CAN BE DONE ANYWHERE, ANY TIME AND ON ANY BUDGET.
 
Today, churches around the country are producing seasonal, quarterly, monthly and weekly family experiences. Some are production driven. Others are scaled down. But every FX is built on the same idea: it’s not what happens during the Family Experiences that is most important, but what happens between them.
 
Over the years I have heard countless stories from parents who shared with me that because of an FX they now have a jumping off point for intentional conversations with their kids during their week. When a family who rarely discusses spiritual issues starts talking about God at dinner, or in the car, even occasionally . . . that’s the power of an FX.
 
Because what happens at home is more important than what happens at church.