On October 8-9th, Grace Bible Church hosted a Family Driven Faith Conference here at Trinity with Voddie Baucham. I shared with someone that it was one of the most enjoyable conferences I have attended. I am very familiar with Bro. Voddie, and most of what he said I had read before or heard before... but it was such a joy to watch 600-700 people come with their families, desiring to learn how to better lead them in worship. The one statistic that he gave that really alarmed me was: 1% of Christian parents regularly teach their children about the things of God at home. Less than 5% have EVER DONE IT. About two years ago, when I asked this question of some of our leadership here, there were few if any that acknowledged they were having family worship at home on the regular basis. Today, there are few Sundays that go by that I am not discussing something about Family Worship with one of our men! As your Pastor, that is not a statistic that is turned in nor is it one that has traditionally been charted, but it is strong, biblically based families that will cause us to have a strong, biblically based church.
The same point was made at the conference as is made regularly at Trinity; the problem isn’t that we don’t know how to disciple our kids - most parents are phenomenal at it. Want proof? There are kids in our church and in our society, who are amazing instrumentalists, great athletes, and very scholarly… but the problem is that on THAT DAY - none of those things will matter. God will not hold me accountable for teaching my boys how to get in a proper 3 points stance or how to throw a curve ball. I will not be asked why I did or didn’t explain to them the intricacies of the 3-4 defense VS the 4-3 defense. God will not drill them on their multiplication facts or check to see that they knew the difference between an adjective and an adverb…I will be held accountable for what they have been taught about the Word of God. Bro. Voddie brought up the question as to why Christian parents don’t disciple their children in the things of God. Let me give you four reasons and a response to them:
1. No Training: Many parents just don’t know how to disciple their children. In our church and, in truth in our day, this excuse frankly doesn’t hold water. We have a book table with great books that can equip you in doing this. We have several catechism books and can supply great websites - we are even doing a class on things like this on Sunday evenings. I do believe this is the reason for the incredible increase in the number of parents at Trinity committing to disciple their children.
2. No Plan: Refer to the above statement. This is not rocket science - it is a very simple plan… I just have to make a decision that the one true God is going to be primary in our home.
3. No Goals: Everyone has goals for their children. Most of them consist of things like: getting married, getting a good job, graduating college and so on. Why is it that one seldom hears of spiritual goals for children? If you are a godly parent you may say “I want to see them come to Christ” but that is as far as you go. What doctrine, what truths do they need to know by the time they leave your house?
4. No Accountability: Our goal is to create an environment at Trinity where it is just an expectation of men to lead their home in worship. If the man is not a believer or is not present, then the mother makes a decision to lead their family in worship. If this is not being done - then there is some concern by our people - as if a child was sick and parent refused to get him/her medical care. There should be people trying to help, encouraging them, and equipping them to step up and take responsibility.
I am thrilled at the progress we have made as families in Trinity! We will continue to grow together, strive for unity and growth in foundational truths so that our children may be raised in a culture of accountability and an expectation of holiness! May God continue to raise up parents who take their responsibility seriously.
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