Unfortunately it is not according to a Barna Survey. 51% of American Christian parents surveyed “expected the church to take the lead.” Only 49% of parents considered teaching their children about reason, faith, and Biblical Christianity to be their responsibility. Correctly children’s ministry leaders state that discipleship should begin at home.
The findings reflect another concerning trend, which shows 86% of parents “feel under-equipped” to teach their kids the Bible and basic theology.
There’s a deep challenge here, Barna stated. “If children’s ministry is going to be healthy, pastors must help both parents and their ministry leaders find common ground.” Discipling children should be a joint effort. For example, the Gospel is lived out in the home, alongside the Church, not just taught on Sundays.
The church needs to encourage parents to embrace their primary role, by teaching them how to have everyday faith conversations. Properly discipled mums and dads will be better prepared to disciple their kids.
Families, Barna continued, should be encouraged “to practice their faith together in everyday life—serving others, praying as a household, and applying Scripture in real situations.” This is “so the next generation grows resilient and ready to follow Jesus in the world beyond church walls.”
Barna’s insights are nothing new. They point back to the Puritans, who understood that every home was to be a little church. “A family is a little Church, a little commonwealth,” said William Gouge in 1622. “It is a school where first principles and civics are learned; whereby men are prepared for greater matters of Church and State.”
Or as Charles Spurgeon preached in 1875, “Men are as much serving God in looking after their own children, and training them up in God’s fear, as they would be if they had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts.” This includes “minding the house and making their household a church for God.” “It is a grand event when a family is saved!” Spurgeon cheered. “Oh, if households enter into Christ, the very bells of Heaven may ring again and again and again with a joy that has many joys within it!”
“Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” Matthew 8:21-22
This hard saying of Jesus addresses our priorities and makes us consider our attachments to people and things. The request of the unnamed disciple actually seems quite reasonable. It could be argued that he was simply working out the biblical command to honour father and mother. In Jesus’ day, the duty to bury one’s relatives had become so important that it took precedence over all other religious commandments, so this saying of Jesus is even more striking.
As with several other statements of Jesus, hyperbole is used to make a point, but this saying was recorded to underline the fact that discipleship is meant to be radical – it requires that we are flexible in our attachment to things as they stand.
When God calls us to embark on a particular course we can usually find a good reason to be otherwise occupied. God may require us to embark on an actual journey or it might involve a new departure, a new venture. Whatever the call, a flexible attitude is needed; it also requires us to create those spaces of prayerful attentiveness, listening to the Holy Spirit so that God can redirect us. The combination of attentiveness plus freedom from attachments is key to effective discipleship.
John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer says it all: “‘I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed for You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low for You. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen”
Attaining freedom from attachments is often a very gradual process, completed over many years. This process is aided hugely by having a rhythm of prayer, which constantly redirects our gaze Godward and allows him to bring about the necessary changes in our lives.
It is important to remember that God goes before us and is working in people’s lives before any encounter we might have with them. All mission is really God’s mission. We are called to join him in what he is already doing. Even Jesus said that he can do nothing by himself; only what he sees the Father doing (John 5:19). When we believe that God is already working in the world, already fulfilling his mission, our task is then to keep in step with the Spirit.
Understanding these principles will be even more important as we get closer to the last seven years (the last week of Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy given by the Angel Gabriel)
“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks, it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end, there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week, he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”Daniel 9:24-27
What an amazing prophecy. Concerning the prophecies given to Daniel, he was told “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.” Now we are living in those days, we can see that the book of Revelation unpacks much of what Daniel was told would happen in the last days before Jesus returns to restore righteousness and rule and reign with the Saints for the prophesied Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom on this earth.
“They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4-6
We are so excited by the amazing fruit being harvested at the Last Reformation Kickstart Weekends that are happening all over the world. They are transforming people’s lives. Even churches are being transformed as you will see in the video below.
Here a whole church got transformed, the Pastor got baptized, and they are now changing the way they are doing church and will go and start small groups. This is transformational!
If you live in the USA and have the opportunity to go and join a Kickstart near you, Torben and his team would love to see you. Keep your eyes on TLRMap.com, where there are often new Kickstarts. For example, in California, a new Kickstart will happen at the beginning of the year in the southern part.
However, you don’t need to wait for a Kickstart Weekend. You can host your Kickstart by using the Kickstart Package. The Kickstart Package comprises seven videos where you get all the teaching for a Kickstart Weekend. The Package comes with a leaders book along with a workbook. Of course, it is not the personal contact you get in a Kickstart Weekend. However, it allows you to host it where you are, such as in your living room. You can invite people over to your home, and you can be the host. Use this tool to reach out to others around you just like other people have done.
Below is a testimony from Jeff and Diana in Pennsylvania.
Testimony from Pennsylvania
Jeff and Diana Ellis hosted a Kickstart in a conference center in downtown Butler, PA. This was the first time they used the Kickstart Package in a seminar-type event vs. a home setting. They utilized the Kickstart Package videos, engaging the workbooks. There were about 25 people in attendance, two of the attendees got baptized, and several received prayer and personal ministry. Jeff stated, “we learned that anyone could do a Kickstart using this package. However, if you have more than four attendees, it is good to have other disciples present to minister alongside you. Overall, for our very first Kickstart, I believe this was a successful event!”
Jeff and Diana plan to follow up with several people for Bible Discovery Groups and do more Kickstarts.
Do you struggle with knowing what to say and how to say it when a controversial topic such as abortion comes up?
“Challenging Conversations”, hosted by author and Christian worldview expert Jason Jimenez ia a conversational podcast designed to help Christians overcome their fears and learn to respectfully engage people of a different view or belief system. You will gain insight as Jason and his guests get into deep conversations about the Christain faith and discuss how Christians ought to be defending the Gospel as they speak the truth in love to those around them.
Click on the link below to hear Jason on How to defend the unborn.
Welcome to this powerful teaching that gives you some amazing tools for how to set other people free, or how you out there can become free! Deliverance is a big part of setting people free, but it’s not always deliverance that needs to take place. Sometimes, it’s a renewing of the mind that’s needed. But renewing the mind is not always the answer either. It’s the Gospel that is needed! But as you see in this first video, repentance is not enough when it comes to setting people free in some cases. No, they also need to forgive and cast their worries onto Jesus, or cast their issues onto Jesus. This is a very simple teaching, but has helped many people to become free and helped the Christ-followers set other people free! I believe this teaching will also help you out there! So see it! Learn it, and become more effective when it comes to setting people free, and when it comes to you experiencing your freedom! This is the first video in a new series I am doing called “HOW TO”, and you can see more videos come out soon in the playlist linked here: HOW TO… https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 