Our children are not falling away [from the Christian faith] because the church is doing a poor job—although that is undoubtedly a factor. Our children are falling away because we are asking the church to do what God designed the family to accomplish. Discipleship and multi-generational faithfulness begins and ends at home. At best, the church is to play a supporting role as it “equips the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12 ESV).
– Voddie Baucham
Christ Alone Wyoming 
Absolutely great quote…..Voddie Baucham blows my mind!! He was over at my church in Northern Ireland around May/June time and he was simply out of this world. Such truth radiates forth from his sermons. He has identified a serious problem in the church today………..most parents pass on the responsibility for their children’s faith to Youth Pastors and Youth Groups that are in reality nothing more than Babysitting clubs. It breaks my heart to see how many young people have turned their back on the faith- my own friends etc- for the absolute trash that the world entices them with. The church must examine itself and admit it has also played a part in this and repent thereof. It’s my fear that most church leaders are too proud and unwilling to humble themselves enough to admit this reality.
R.P.
LikeLike
Despite what is taught in biology classes all over the world, human beings are not a highly evolved form of animal. The Bible clearly delineates the differences between people and animals. However, there are some behavioral similarities.
Animals can be trained by a process of lure and reward. A dog which does not want to enter the veterinarian’s office, might be tempted into the examination room with a dangled morsel of meat. The painful vaccination which follows will no doubt be good for the dog, even if the dog does not particularly enjoy it.
When the dog is later benefiting from a healthy heart worm-free and rabies-free life, he will not necessarily associate the benefits with his trip to the vet. Therefore, he must be enticed anew each time.
The ordinary, every-day, average, garden-variety 21st Century American teen-aged child is much the same. You can win over his or her willingness to come to church with delicious treats. Food and fun, games and gimmicks, seem good TO them, but they are not necessarily good FOR them. And, although they might be willing to sit through a Bible lesson in order to receive these treats, when the treats run out (usually around the time they turn into legal “adults”), it is unlikely they will continue to endure spiritual “treatment” without the fleshly “reward.” In other words, what you win them WITH, is what you win them TO.
Thankfully, the Bible gives us a better way to win converts to the Lord, regardless of their age or personal preferences.
“Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (I Corinthians 1:20-21)
Believe it or not, it is the preaching of the Cross of Christ that wins converts to Christ, regardless of their age or interests. There is no Biblical authority for separating the means for getting young people to the Cross from the message of the Cross itself.
LikeLike
Agreed Ministry Addict,
I have long believed and stated even from the pulpit that the reason you go to church will more than likely be the reason that you leave. If you go because of the “swingin’ music” or the “rockin’ youth club”, what happens when the church no longer has the resources to sustain those or it decides to go in a different direction? PEOPLE LEAVE!
However, I have yet to find anybody who went to church with the purpose of learning about God and joined themselves to a fellowship for biblical doctrine who then later left for the same reason they came. What does happen is either the church changes its doctrine and it goes down the slippery slope towards apostasy or the believer does NOT like what he or she is hearing and chooses to go where they can have their ears tickled!
The Desert Pastor
LikeLike
Good word, Desert Pastor.
It sounds like a crazy notion, but we might wonder if Satan has been reading his Bible. If he has seen Malachi Chapter 4, verse 6, then he would know that God’s desire is to see the hearts of children turned toward, not away from, their parents. “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” And that would motivate the devil to work very hard to do just the opposite of what God wants. Does this explain the state of most of the parent-child relationships we see in the world today?
Malachi 4:6 is actually the very last verse in the entire Old Testament. Malachi is prophesying in part about the ministry of John the Baptist. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:” (Malachi 4:5). John the Baptist was not Elijah reincarnated, but he did minister in the spirit of Elijah.
Between the end of Malachi and the beginning of the New Testament there is about 400 years of silence, as far as recorded Scripture. Then, in Luke 1:17, the angel of the Lord tells Zacharias, concerning John the Baptist: “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
The devil has turned the hearts of many of our children. He has turned them to drugs, immorality, worldly entertainment, popular culture, their own vanity, and even to their peers. Dads, moms: no modern-day John the Baptist is going to catch your children at the shopping mall, rock concert, or make-out party, and convince them to repent. However, we have One greater than John the Baptist. If we can get them to Jesus, He will turn their hearts to Himself, and back to us. It’s a great thing to pray for your kids. God can protect them in ways we can’t. However, he has ordained us, parents, in a very real, personal, and hands-on way, to take the steering wheel of their hearts, and guide them in the right direction.
LikeLike
Why parents don’t teach and train their children is beyond me. I guess they are so selfish and interested in their own agendas that they can’t be bothered with their children. Let the children raise themselves and don’t bother me right now, seems to be the attitude. Several years back, we heard a preacher speak about smokers and how everyone in the family is smoking their own brand of selfishness They are arguing over which brand will be smoked in the house and it’s normally the parents’ brand until the children leave.
The other problem is that parents tend to think that just because they are saved they don’t have to worry about their children. They don’t seem to realize or don’t want to realize that the children that are born are little heathens. They have to be discipled just like anyone else does!
Another problem today is that a lot of parents are hypocrites! They give the, “Do as I say, not as I do” routine and the children are so sick of it! They don’t see that their parents are real in their so-called Christianity so they decide that they will follow their own path when they grow up!
Children take a lot of work and consistency both in love and discipline. Children need to hear their parents seek for forgiveness when they have been wronged. Children need the continued teaching and training from the parents! If we’re not willing to give it then they will find what they need from someplace or someone else!
LikeLike
Rollerblading for senior citizens? “Teen” night on the Weather Channel? A bouncy water slide for widows’ ministry? Needlepoint-and-prayer meeting for toddlers? Let’s face it, some activities are not for everyone. Some activities are limited by interest, physical ability, and even age. But is the main reason for church attendance – the hearing of the preaching of the Word of God – one of those activities?
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28
“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 1:1)… Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” Ephesians 6:1
“Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.” Joel 2:16
It sure looks like, from the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, that all different types of people, children of all ages, and adults all met together and heard the preaching of the Word of God together as a matter of regular practice. The wisdom of man says that a person’s need is to be rescued from boredom, for which specialized entertainment is the solution. The wisdom of God says that a person’s need is to be rescued from sin, for which instruction, training, and exhortation from the Word of God is the solution.
LikeLike