“As you know how we exhorted, and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”
1 Thessalonians 2:11-12
My family and I travel across our country ministering in churches, camps, and conferences throughout the year. The aging demographics we observe in many congregations present challenges to the sustainability of American grace churches and our impact on the foreign mission field. Radical changes must be made by churches and families moving forward as co-champions of the next generation. Both must understand that ministry training does not begin when young people arrive on campus at Grace Christian University, Berean Bible Institute, or any other school, but well ahead of time during the formative years of life right at home with dad and mom (1 Thes.2:11-12).
In The Gathering Storm: Secularism, Culture, and the Church, Dr. Albert Mohler issues a bold challenge for the church to be deliberate in engaging the storm gathering over the coming generations. Intentional ministry training begins at home in three poignant ways:
1. Christian parents [and grandparents] must view church as the highest and utmost priority for their family’s weekly schedule.
A secularized culture idolizes athletic prowess, and many Christians buy into this due to the perception that incessant sports activities (even on Sunday) will increase their child’s eventual college entrance application. Should they really be surprised when their investment into the traveling team captures the heart of the next generation at the expense of a church which they have never really known in the first place? As the pillar and ground of doctrinal truth, the ministry of the local church should be paramount to the weekly routine and rhythm of biblical family life (1 Tim.3:15).
2. Christian parents [and grandparents] need to be serious about the effects of technology, screen time, and social media.
Such gadgets and platforms are worldview-shaping influencers in the lives of young people whose impressionable minds are susceptible to the diabolically insidious nature of deception (Col.2:8). The formative years of youth should not be squandered but redirected toward developing a comprehensive and therefore biblical Christian worldview. Along with this, cultivating practical ministry skills by learning how to read robust literature like missionary biographies, playing musical instruments, and building daily work ethic through being industrious, diligent, and disciplined is a priority of home-based ministry training (Eph.5:15-17).
3. Christian parents [and grandparents] must endeavor to fill their homes with the fragrance of the gospel.
More important than adorning the physical house is filling it with “the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ” and the intangible virtues of faith, hope, and love (Pr.24:3-4; Phil.1:11). Training the next generation for ministry leadership begins right at home through spiritual disciplines like family worship time, Scripture memorization, and singing the praises of Him who alone is worthy of all praise because of who He is and what He has done in Christ Jesus.
