Statistics show that the average 10-year-old spends more time watching television in one year than he will spend talking with his father for the rest of his life. Research also indicates the fastest growing family unit in the United States today consists of a single parent and a child. Family values are quickly being proven to be a thing of the past, and people are less and less assuming marriage is forever.
While the church is working to reverse this situation and restore the unity of the family, how do these changes take place?
They begin with the family, and namely, the next generation- the children, said Jim Swedenburg, director of the church weekday education conference held recently at Shocco Springs Conference Center. “When people sign a waiting list to get their children into church day-care programs and preschools, and actually pay for that opportunity, the ministry there is tremendous,” said Swedenburg, who is an associate in the office of LeaderCare/Church Administration with the State Board of Missions.
This conference, designed for church child-care directors, workers, teachers and ministers of childhood education, was created 27 years ago.
This year’s theme was “Facing the New Millinnium.”
The purpose of the conference was to help churches more effectively minister to preschool and school-aged children through church-sponsored child-care programs, and also reaching individuals who are not saved.
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