New Year and New life?

Hi Arah and Etan,

We started this year with meeting new and other PKs from other churches.

We met in one of the fancy restaurants in the outskirts of the city. It was such a blessing to hear stories from fellow PKs. I could only pray that you were there to hear them too. It was really heart warming to know that there are people who share the same experience and the same sentiments as you do.

This new year, we talked about New Life. One of the reflections given by a PK was how our life as PKs are different from the other Christians. It begins with meeting Christ. Most Christians have stories that are made-for-TV stories. They were black sheeps in the family and they lived a sinful life. Some were addicts and hooked to drugs, alcohol, smoking and other vices. Their lives were changed when they knew Christ.

But most PK's don't have the same story. We could only envy those people who experienced a big turnaround in their life. We could only wonder how it felt? It might really felt good.

PKs are different. From the moment we were born, we are surrounded by loving Christian parents. Our earliest memories include singing Sunday school songs and short Christian choruses. The people we know are Christians. The activities that we attend to are Jesus-oriented. We do not know what a beer taste like and what a disco house feels like. We were taught early on that smoking was bad for it destroys our body - God's holy temple. We had curfews and they were strict.

We felt like deprived kids growing up. We were deprived of the good things of this world - the material things that people die for.

But then we realize that it was all good. That we should be thankful to our parents for raising us up as good little Christian kids. That we were not subjected to the evils of this world. As Susana Wesley said, what is the use of allowing kids to start bad habits only to break them when they are older.

It is only right to start a Christian life as young as we can. For it is the life that we want to live not only when we are adults, not only when we are young but all through out our life.  Our testimonies need not be dramatic like a "lost and found" story. Our testimony is that God is at work early on in our lives, for God knows us even when we were in our mothers womb.

The New Life need not be from a life of "hell" to a life of "heaven." New life is being born again in the Holy Spirit and this could be even when we are little kids growing up in church. For even little children can belong to God. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old life is gone, a new life has begun."

And for us PK's, New Life begins early.

The Fellowship

Hello Arah and Etan.

Several days ago, I was invited to a Fellowship. This was the gathering of fellow Pastor's Kids. It was a simple get together over dinner. But I was so blessed to hear stories from fellow Pastor's Kids. These kids belong to other church traditions and denominations but we share the same stories.

The common theme in our stories is the struggle of the kids and the hurt they had to endure while growing up. I asked myself if the churchpeople ever thought of the welfare of the PKs. I wondered if they ever thought of ministering to the PKs. Or maybe they never saw the need. Maybe so. Because they are Pastor's Kids, the Pastors will take care of them. Or worst, the churchpeople think that they are like their parent's - they can handle the pressure (by default.) A memorable anecdote that one shared is that "PKs are like fishes in a fishbowl." That was so true. Chruchpeople see all our actions including our wrong acts. And I added, "they look at us in a fishbowl with a magnifying glass."

It was a blessing knowing that we are not alone in our journey as PKs. I pray that there are many more fellowships like these in other places to help other PKs. Someday, I hope you, Arah and Etan, will be able to join in such Fellowships. I will be content in the knowledge that you will not walk alone in your journey, for there are fellowships that will help you along the way.

A Letter to Pastor's Kids

This blog is for all the pastor’s kid, or fondly called the PKs. This is especially dedicated to my friends Ara and Etan whom I met 6 years and 3 years ago respectively. I was starting in the ministry of servant-leadership then when they came up to me and asked me about being a pastor. Instead, we ended up talking about being pastor’s kid.

I am also a pastor’s kid.  I know what it feels like to be one. That is my only credential for writing this. I will share with all the pastor’s kid, especially to Ara and Etan, the lessons I learned, the realizations I made and all the other exceptional stories in the life of a pastor’s kid. I will try to encourage you as much as I can because I know the name “Pastor’s Kid” have expectations that can sometimes become very difficult.

I hope, as you read this blog, I will be able to share with you the unique stories we pastor’s kid had to endure. May you be informed, challenged and inspired. I pray you start considering and thinking about PK issues - that PKs are not Pastors, and they have a different dynamics. To Ara and Etan, I pray that you will find courage in knowing that as you go through the life of a Pastor’s kid, you are not alone.