What About Our Children?
- Matt Powell
- Oct 14, 2008
- Series: Suburban Life
If you would like to download and read the PDF you can click HERE
I have come to really enjoy going to our local KISD volleyball games. Don’t get me wrong, I have always loved playing and watching the sport but I have gained a new appreciation after getting to know a few coaches. There is much more strategy at play in one of those games than a person might realize. Since I have never been anything close to a world-class athlete it has always been the strategy side of sports that has garnered my fascination. You know, all of the “what if” scenarios… Let me try one on you – what if the Church has failed in its attempt at making children disciples?
I know what you are probably thinking, “how can a pastor say such a thing?” Well, if we agree that, depending on which studies you read, 70-88% of professing Christian young people are leaving the church by their second year of college then you may begin to understand why I would say such a thing. However, statistics often find themselves falling on empty and uninterested ears. Let’s do our own research project. I would venture that you as a reader fall into one of two categories: either you attended church on a somewhat regular basis, or you had friends that did. I would guess that our little research project would indicate both you and I remember many friends who attended church when they were younger and I would venture to say that you, as well as I, can remember the changes that took place in many of their lives (including many of our own) as they tasted of the new found freedom we all enjoyed after arriving to our college destinations.
It is easy to grow up living within a culture and swimming along downstream only to find yourself poking your head out of the water completely unaware of your trajectory. The stream of cultural Christianity has swept through our land and some of the most detrimental effects will be seen in the generational decline of Christ followers. Can’t you hear the infamous Debbie Downer chiming in with her usual and incredibly intellectual assessment, “whaw whaw”? We desperately need some answers if we hope to change the course of our current path.
It is time for a strategy change. We have been running an offense that has left us with a big deficit in the win column. Even more significant is that it doesn’t appear that this failing offense exists anywhere in the playbook. We must get back to a Biblical view of discipleship and open up the pages of our scriptural playbook. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:4). As counter-cultural as it may be, this must be the mantra of our family discipleship strategy. All roads must lead to this end.
Our strategy as a church must be one that encourages and equips parents (especially fathers) to disciple their children. Our church must never do anything that usurps the centrality that God has given to the home. Rather, everything we do as a church must be in support of parents discipling children. We must not confuse our children by putting others in front of them as their primary faith trainer. The church must become the scaffolding of the home, holding up and supporting parents through their crucial years of family discipleship while their children are living under their roof. The church must equip parents with a partnership, resources, spiritual nourishment, and a community of faith that will walk with them through the mistakes and incredible joys of family discipleship.
In this stage of the life of our church we accomplish these goals in many different ways. First, for the families that have children five and above, we design listening guides which make the time of Biblical preaching applicable to their lives. They sit with their mom and dad and learn how you worship God in Biblical community. They learn by hearing and by watching. They see mom and dad worshiping and feeding on the word of God being taught on Sunday mornings. After this worship time they engage in a small group discussion with others their age. They discuss the time they have just spent worshiping with their families. The small group facilitator is able to ask some questions that help them think deeper about the morning’s message. Most importantly though, is the gift of shared experience.
Our Sunday morning strategy is designed in a way to afford mom and dad with a shared experience of worship and preaching which can serve as a springboard to a week of teachable moments and discipleship discussion. We resource our families with the tools to teach their children as they sit at home, as they move throughout their day, when they go to bed, and when they rise (Deut. 6:7). The home must be the catalyst for discipleship in the life of the church.
For those who are younger than five we have two worship options. We welcome those children to worship with their families from birth. We also provide a teaching time for that age group that runs concurrently with the worship service. Whichever avenue is taken, we are still empowering parents to be the primary faith trainer of their children by sharing the songs and truths we communicate with them so that Sunday is a day of reinforcing a lifestyle that permeates Monday thru Saturday. Again our mantra is to equip parents with a partnership, resources, spiritual nourishment, and a community of faith that will walk with them through the mistakes and incredible joys of family discipleship.
Starting a church in our suburban land of plenty is no easy task. We are trying to live life swimming against the cultural stream. Yet, it is my belief that when God begins working and people are looking for Him and true transformational change in their lives, they aren’t looking to swim down the cultural stream. I believe people are fed up with the watered down Christianity that breeds hypocrisy and a judgmental worldview. As much as we are a comfortable, creative, and relevant people who call ourselves The Crossings, may we never dilute the integrity of the gospel and the calling of scripture on our lives. Let’s strive to be disciplers and instructors of the children God is blessing us with and find God’s church as a partner in this great multi-generational endeavor.