The Local Church--the Best Environment to Raise Children, Anonymous

Raising children is a very big issue in this country. In 1968 I came to the USA from the Far East to study education at the Ohio State University. After getting my master's degree in education I chose to stay at home full-time to raise my three children. I read all kinds of books concerning raising children and even took some classes on discipline and guidance. I had so much ``how to'' knowledge, but usually I found myself powerless to carry out what I knew. I placed many rules and expectations on my children, so many of which they just couldn't keep.

Fortunately, my husband and I are born again Christians. We became involved with the local churches in Ohio. Since their birth, our children were in the nursery, the children's meetings, and the high school and college meetings sponsored by the local church. They learned Bible stories, studied Bible verses, and went to different conferences. When they were in junior high, each of them personally received the Lord and were baptized in the junior high conference. Since that time they started to experience Christ as their life, their strength, and their wisdom. All of them went through their teenage years without any troubles. They studied hard in school and received good grades while participating in various school activities such as choir, orchestra, band, soccer, drama, science club, leadership workshops, etc. At the same time they actively participated in local church conferences, pursuing Christ with their peer groups with pure hearts. They have spiritual parents as well as spiritual brothers and sisters in the local church who nurture them and encourage them.

I remember that in high school, my older daughter was praised by her English teacher in front of her class because she was the only one in the class that did not speak profanities. My younger daughter, at her first junior high dance, called home to have us pick her up because the Lord inside her was telling her to get out of that place. My son, at 15, in high school chose to go to a winter Bible study in Anaheim, California rather than to go to Disney World in Florida with his friends. My children all have Christ living in them as their guidance and their best enjoyment. Now they have all graduated from college. I entrust them to the Lord and pray for them daily. I am thankful to the Lord and the local church which has provided the best environment for their social life, family life, and community life. They are still pursuing higher education and at the same time they are pursuing Christ with all their heart. No matter where they go, as long as there is a local church, they will receive love and care from the other members.

The responsibility of raising my children was made easier because they had Christ as their inner guidance and they had the best environment--the church--in which to grow spiritually and humanly. My husband and I owe so much to the Lord and the local church that our children turned out so healthy, so happy, and so promising to society as well as in the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ.