Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised; and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:23-25)

Yes, I know this is an often-repeated message. Today, though, I was provoked to think about it from another angle. If your a parent of parents, this one is especially for you.
Myra and I were meeting, this evening, with a wonderful man who is raising support to work in men’s ministry in this area. (If you don’t know who I’m talking about and would like to, let me know!)
Our friend told us a really interesting story of a meeting he’d had with a gentleman whose youngest child had gone off to college last year. The effect has been really sad. The man and his wife have stopped going to church.
Now we’re sort of used to the idea of kids going to college and dropping out of church. As a matter of fact there’s solid research that shows they do — but also that many of them return after a while. There isn’t any research, though, that shows parents dropping out!
I have no evidence for what I’m about to say, except what Myra and I saw when we were doing children’s ministry. There are a lot of parents who know that it’s their duty to see their children get to church. They will bring them to church, get them to Sunday school, even show them a good example by attending themselves … The trouble is, they’re bodily present, but spiritually absent.
Now I don’t say that the man whose absence from church fits into this picture — but I wouldn’t be surprised if he and his wife weren’t the kind of independent Christians I’m thinking of. The trouble with that is that being independent is not a Christian virtue. We are meant to co-dependent. We are to consider one another. We are to provoke each other unto love and to good works. That can’t happen if we don’t go beyond spending the minimum possible time in church. The inevitable result of failing to fellowship is forsaking of the assembling of ourselves together.
So if you’re a parent, don’t go independent. If you’re a parent of parents, pass it on!