BibleSponge

(Parts 5 and 6 to this series have been inspired by and borrowed from a message preached February 2006 by Voddie Baucham entitled, “The Centrality of the Home”.  You can listen to it here.)

Parents.  Plain and simple.  It' is not the job of the pastor, youth pastor, elders – or anyone else to disciple and evangelize youth.  It is the parents job plain and simple.  The argument could be made that the church’s failure to hold parents responsible to their discipling and evangelizing duties is the biggest Achilles’ heel.

In its current form, youth ministry today commonly goes directly against God’s will by pointing youth away from the 5th commandment and the context in which it was given.

What?  Did you get that?  How in the world could a ministry go against God’s word and what does it have to do with the 5th commandment?  More on this in Part 6.

In Deuteronomy 5:16 we get the 5th commandment.  That is the first of the horizontal commandments.  In other words, it was the first command given to the community of faith, as opposed to the first four commandments that are vertical, or between an individual and God.  I’ve often wondered if God placed it there for a reason.  If He placed it there above all the other horizontal commandments, to show the importance of a key task to ensure His people would survive in a pagan culture.

Then we see in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Moses commanding the people of Israel to disciple their children.  Why?  Because the Israelites were going into a pagan land.  The only way that they were going to survive and not disappear among the pagan majority was to obviously “multiply greatly” (Deuteronomy 6:3) and to “teach them diligently” (Deuteronomy 6:7).  My my, doesn’t that sound like the world we live in today?  This could be applied to current times we live in and advice for the church body today in order not to disappear into the world.

But no, we give parents a pass.  They’re allowed to drop off their kids at will for their weekly dose of Jesus.

How can the best orchestrated service with the best youth speaker with the best worship music in the coolest, inviting environment offset what parents allow to pour into their children all week long?

It can’t. It won’t. It never will.  We are setting our kids up for failure in life later on by giving them an anemic “dose of the Ghost”.

By God’s design, parents are already equipped to disciple and evangelize their children.  Most, including myself just need some help and guidance.  But, because ministry had become so professionalized, parents often feel disempowered to sit down and pray, read the Bible, or worship with their children outside of the church.

Why are churches not offering more help to parents?  Why are their no workshops, Bible studies, books, prayer services, etc. being implemented with importance specifically aimed and encouraging and equipping for family discipleship?  Are we afraid of offending parents by holding them responsible?  Here is the best analogy I have found to date regarding youth ministry and the lack of accountability in the church regarding parental discipleship and evangelism.

If there is a group of people not tithing in church, do you go and start a ministry to tithe for them?  No.  You teach them how to tithe and you hold them responsible for it.  Isn’t it funny how we think that will work for tithing but not for youth ministry? 
(Voddie Baucham in a message, “The Centrality of The Home”.  Feb. 2006)

Moses listened to God and understood the importance of the home.  He recognized the potential devastating ramifications of failing to disciple our kids and teach them the Word of God in our homes on a daily basis.  He bravely stood up and sounded the alarm.  Funny how doing the same in today’s church has become taboo.

JS