It can be difficult to attend church when your spouse is less active. This can be a struggle on many levels. One area in particular is your children. There may come a time when one or more of your children begin to question whether or not they can stay home with the less active parent or attend church. Children may also struggle when lessons are taught about eternal families and the need for all members of the family to be active. It is important that you handle these issues as a team.
You should sit down and speak to your spouse about how he wants to handle the questions that your children may have. There are different attitudes that your spouse may have. He may just not be interested in attending church, or he may have bitter feelings towards the church. He may want the children to attend each week, or he may not want them to attend at all. You need to discuss this and make compromises for your marriage. You should be respectful of his decision, and ask him to be respectful of yours to continue to attend church.
Once you have decided on the expectations that you have with church attendance for your children, then you will need to explain them to your children. You may decide to have the children attend when they are young, and then let them make their own choice when they are older. If your spouse attends a different faith, you may choose to have them take turns at the different congregations (though this may be confusing for your children).
You need to carefully consider any concerns that your children may have in regards to your spouse’s choice to stop attending church. Some questions you may want your spouse to answer. It is important that as you answer the questions that you emphasize the need to love and respect your spouse. This can help them to not judge the decision. You can also emphasize the fact that the Lord is aware of the situation and will still help your family no matter what.
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