At the Dinner Table.
Welcome to our Visit Ministry blog!
In this first installment I want to take a moment to explain what we are trying to accomplish with this publication and how we came by our name, At the Dinner Table.
A few weeks back I was out to coffee with one of our partners, and as we sipped our espresso we were talking about the vision of Visit and what makes these teen centers uniquely effective. We discussed the shortcomings of structured institutions and carefully crafted programs to evangelize and disciple youth (though we by no means feel these have no value or impact in the right setting or for the right kind of student). This gentleman and his wife have successfully raised some wonderful young men and women, and sent them into adulthood with solid character, Biblical worldviews, and commendable work ethic. He was recollecting on his experience raising his own children and he explained to me that nearly every important moment of teaching or training with his children happened at the dinner table.
The important lessons and values he wanted to instill in the children he was raising weren’t passed down through a structured or formalized teaching/discipling process, but through the natural interaction that occurred when they were gathered together as family. In doing life together and taking meals together – and the conversation that filled these moments – the culture of their family was established and taught to his children.
It largely wasn’t even intentional. He didn’t approach these conversations planning or expecting to teach important life lessons, but as they talked about their day or the challenges they were facing, they would share their hearts with each other and his children’s hearts were formed like clay under the influence of their father’s hands.
This conversation stuck with me. And the phrase “At the dinner table” kept ringing in my ears long after we parted ways.
The greatest need of the young people we interact with at our centers is FAMILY. Most of them come from broken families. Many have never met their father or have no involvement in their lives. Often their mothers have too many problems of their own to give them the attention they need, or are so busy trying to provide for their family as a single-mother, that they are rarely present.
The greatest gift we can give to these young people is FAMILY.
They don’t need professionals, programs, or even preachers. They need parents. They need mothers and fathers. And they won’t listen or respond to the former, if the latter need isn’t met. If our goal is to raise up spiritual sons and daughters – disciples in the Lord, then we must find a way to create family for these young people. And just like my friend’s experience, much of what we pass down to these young people – the character, worldview, values, and truth – won’t be through a structured program, or through preaching, but at the dinner table.
As we share life with these young people. As we enter their world and share our world with them, something intangible and eternally valuable with be passed between us.
The purpose of this blog is to talk about that journey, and to pass along tools, resources, and information to help you as you reach out to the young people of your community and take up the eternally important role of being a mother or father to those who don’t have one.
Thank you.
