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Introduction

A Journey Begins

I remember it like it was yesterday. My wife looked at me with great excitement and said the greatest words a husband can hear, “Honey, I’m pregnant.” There is no doubt I felt a thousand different emotions at that point in time – joy, thanksgiving, excitement, anxiousness, and, in all reality, fear. Questions began to pop up in my mind. Was I ready to be a father? Did I have what it takes to raise a child? What kind of father would I be? Would my child love Jesus? I was a father in the strict sense of the word but was I ready to be a real father, a godly father? This thought gripped me. I heard the words of former professors and pastors reverberating in my mind:

“Parents are held accountable to teach their children the truths of God’s Word.”

“It is your responsibility, as a parent, to live a life that displays the saving gospel of Jesus Christ to your children.”

No. That was my answer. I was not prepared to handle this sort of responsibility. This is not the answer I had hoped to come up with. I wanted to be able to stick out my chest with confidence and assurance and claim, “I am the man for the job.” After all, I was about to graduate from seminary. I had taken Bible classes and theology classes. I could parse Greek verbs and discuss the complexities of the Trinity. If anyone should have been prepared, it would have been me. The problem was I knew I was not the man for the job – at least not yet. This realization drove me to study God’s Word and seek to understand better my responsibility. I wanted to know what God expected of me. I wanted to know how people, throughout church history, had taught their children the truths of Scripture. I wanted my child to love and serve Jesus and I knew I would play a huge role in his or her life.

When Jesus left this earth he gave his disciples a mission. This mission, also known as the Great Commission, is to make disciples of all nations, baptize them, and teach them to observe all of Jesus’ commandments. What a daunting task! Much of the world was hostile to Christianity at this point in time and yet, this was the singular mission Jesus gave His disciples. In fact, the Great Commission was so important that the Holy Spirit guided every gospel writer to include it in their gospel accounts and Luke also included it in the book of Acts (Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:14-18, Luke 24:44-49, John 20:19-23, Acts 1:4-8). If we are to understand our role, with respect to our children, we must begin with the Great Commission. The mission of every believer is to make disciples and I can think of no better place to begin than with our own children. Parents should be disciple-makers, first and foremost, in the home.

I am always fascinated by new technology and one of the newest technologies on the market is the ability for cars to parallel park themselves. As the driver, you simply push a button, take your hands off the wheel, and allow the computer to guide the car into the parking place. This technology is amazing and works well but my fear is that we have taken the same approach to the spiritual development of our children. Often, we expect to be able to push a button, take our hands off the wheel, and our children will magically become the spiritual giants that we hoped they would become.

Statistics reveal that Christian parents are rarely involved in the spiritual lives of their children. Scripture, however, paints a very different picture of what this relationship should look like. As parents, we have the responsibility to “drive” the discipleship process in the home. We must keep our hands on the wheel and take responsibility to guide our children as they journey through life. This includes purposefully sharing the gospel with them, teaching them the ways of the Lord, and modeling for them a Great Commission focused lifestyle. The purpose of this book is to examine the biblical responsibility parents have to be involved in their children’s spiritual lives and help equip them to take an active role.

The end goal of this book is that parents and churches will renew their efforts to train this generation of children and teenagers. My greatest desire is that this generation will know Jesus and make Him known throughout the world.