As we move further into cultural and spiritual chaos in America, I believe that we as Christian parents are presented with the greatest evangelistic opportunity within the Church today – the salvation of millions of children and young adults under the evangelistic and discipleship ministry of fathers and mothers in the home. This is perhaps the most neglected mission field set before the Church in our modern time…
Evangelism: Faithful Fathers or Big-Tents?
The Bible calls parents to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord and more specifically – fathers. We as Christian fathers are called in the Scriptures to preach the Gospel to our children every day:
…when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up – Deuteronomy 6:7
We as fathers are to pass on the knowledge of God to the next generation. We are commanded to expose our children day by day to the greatness of God, the perfections of His ways and the wonderful stories that explain His character and nature. This kind of instruction gives children a true understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Faithful Fathers Flourish
Consider the example of the faithful father: Daily, he praises God to his children with hundreds of words and practical principles. Day after day, he cries out to them, explaining the stories that glorify the kindness and love of God, His wrath toward sinners and His vanquishing power over all things. In doing so, he reflects the heart of the Heavenly Father who cries out:
Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion… – Hebrews 3:7-8
In turn, his children observe their father as he personally delights in the Word of God and places himself under its wonderful teaching. The children behold how good and mighty God is and how foolish it is to turn away from Him. They witness first hand in how their daddy is submitted, conformed and confronted by the Word of God and is changed and transformed by its power right before their eyes! As a first-generation Christian father, I have personally cried out to the Lord that He would help me to make this a reality in my own family. Although I have not always done this perfectly – by a long shot – the grace of God continues to amaze and humble me as I seek His face, His will and His ways for my life and family –thank you Jesus!
Submitted under this kind of loving and committed ministry, our children will hear the whole counsel of God from Genesis to Revelation. They will see the flow of human history from the Lord’s perspective. They hear of the great doctrines of the faith that have sustained humble and submitted people from one generation to the next. They observe the mighty hand of God working against all human odds. They see the beginning and end of history and where they themselves stand in its stream. They know who ultimately wins the battle. They know that nothing can stand against the will of our Sovereign Lord.
Big-Tents Fall Short
How different faithful fathers are in contrast to the sending of our children to various evangelistic crusades, concerts and big-tent events in hope that they might be saved. Some of these events may indeed be helpful. However, they do not have the spiritual impact that we as fathers have on our families and should not be the core foundation to reaching our children for Jesus Christ.
The story is all too common…
A young person attends a Christian crusade and walks down the aisle or makes a profession of faith absent of a true conversion. They go forward because they have an emotional experience or respond perhaps to peer pressure because a friend went forward – but not because they truly understand the Gospel. This is why so few who “make decisions” at evangelistic meetings ever continue in a normal Christian life. Without the background and understanding of (original) sin and repentance or the specifics of the cross of Calvary, persecution, and a life lived in Christ in which they are turning toward, they are like the seeds Jesus speaks of in Mark chapter 4. These “seeds” fell on the shallow soil, sprouted up and quickly died away because they had no root in themselves – the true, Biblical Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sadly, our churches are filled with such young people who have “walked an aisle,” but who have never really understood the full breadth of the Gospel message. For them, the Gospel has been trivialized and reduced to simply “accepting Christ” – He may be Savior but is not the Lord of their lives.
In stark contrast to this scenario, the daily diet of a father’s Gospel teaching gives a detailed understanding of the true Gospel. It provides the full understanding as well as the context and content that is necessary in becoming a true follower of Jesus Christ.
God’s requirements for child evangelism are clear: fathers are commanded to diligently teach their children and care for their souls day by day. The sad reality of father’s lives in many modern churches is that they are satisfied with Sunday schools and evangelistic crusades – which are never mentioned in Scripture – but often reject God’s direct and undeniable commands to personally teach their children daily. This is outright rebellion against the Lord. In order to rescue this lost generation of children in Christian homes from hell, we must first help fathers understand what God has commanded and exhort them to embrace their responsibilities before the Lord. We must speak clearly of what God has mandated so that fathers do not miss the opportunity to touch the hearts of their sons and daughters with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
A Wake Up Call!
Because fathers have failed to do their duty in discipling their children, we are quickly losing the next generation to the world. Observations from a number of studies illustrate this trend. Consider the following troubling statistics:
Researcher George Barna maintains that if current trends in the belief systems and practices of the younger generation continue, in ten years, church attendance will be half the size it is today – (George Barna, Revolution, pages 48-49).Dawson MacAlister, national youth ministry specialist, remarked that 90 percent of youth active in high school church programs drop out of church by the time they are sophomores in college – (Reggie McNeal, The Present Future, page 4).Data from the Southern Baptist Convention indicates that we are currently losing 70-88 percent of our youth after their freshman year in college. In a report to the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, T.C. Pinkney observed that 70 percent of teenagers involved in church youth groups stop attending church within two years of their high school graduation – (T.C. Pinkney, remarks to the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, Nashville, Tennessee, September 18, 2001).The Southern Baptist Council on Family Life reported an even more staggering statistic: 88 percent of the children in evangelical homes leave church at the age of 18 – (Southern Baptist Council on Family Life report to Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, 2002).
The Age of Understanding
While church attendance is one barometer for generational continuity for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the church, another study points to a more fundamental problem. Thom Rainer, Professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary School of Evangelism, launched a survey that he hoped would tell him if people understood the Gospel. In response to his survey questions, the following percentages of people answered in a way that would indicate they were born again Christians:
- Born before 1946 = 65 percent
- Born between 1946 and 1964 = 35 percent
- Born between 1965 and 1976 = 15 percent
- Born between 1976 and 1994 = 4 percent (Reggie McNeal, The Present Future, page 4)
Of all the studies recently published, the most telling related to the father’s role in the discipleship as outlined by the Baptist Press:
If a child is the first person in the household to become a Christian, there is a 3.5 percent probability everyone in the household will follow.If the mother is first to become a Christian, there is a 17 percent chance everyone else in the household will submit to Christ.If the father professes Christ first, there is a 93 percent probability that everyone else in the household will heed the Gospel call! – (Polly House, “Want Your Church to Grow? Then Bring in Men” – www.bpnews.net).
Fathers… Let’s Man Up!
God’s Word declares and studies affirm what this generation needs – an uprising of men committed to discipling their children. While the church in the 21st century is losing the next generation of children to worldliness, we here at Encouraging Concepts are calling fathers to return to the Biblical role as head of their household, to preach the Gospel and to make disciples of their children.
The great Messianic prophesy of Psalm 22 shows how God brings the glory of Salvation from one generation to the next through those who take seriously the charge to teach their children:
A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, they will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has dome this – Psalm 22:30-31
Please pray that we as fathers would not miss the greatest untapped evangelistic opportunity set before the Church today. Let it be said of this generation of fathers that we obeyed the Lord and did our part to fulfill the Great Commission of Matthew 28 – Go and mike disciples!
Dads… Just think of the evangelistic impact we as fathers would have in our generation if we would only heed this commission from our Lord Jesus!
We are not guaranteed tomorrow – tomorrow may be too late! If you haven't yet made that most important decision of your life, won't you make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today - before it's too late? Todayis the day of Salvation!
If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com
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Blessings!
Shane K. Morin <><
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