Contract Discipleship

It is a beautiful Sunday morning, and all the little kiddos are dropped off at Sunday School. They color cute pictures of Noah and the animals, they sing songs, and they may even do some crafts. For most children, this is a joyful time – a time that sadly ends after approximately one hour. At this point, parents pick them up and zoom out of the parking lot as fast as they can. But why? Wouldn’t it be better to stay for the worship service and learn as a family?

For many children, this is what discipleship looks like at home: no bible study, no prayer life, no charity, and no speaking the name of Jesus (except for the occasional toe stubbing). In short, discipleship just isn’t happening in the home. Is it that parents want their children to know about God, but they don’t believe in God themselves? No. In fact, my Midwest Lutheran experience has taught me that the lack of home discipleship is not about disbelief, rather it is about spiritual immaturity. The following scriptures can help us in this regard.

The Old Testament teaches parents how often they should talk about God with their children: “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:7). So, basically….all the time! In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul gave this command to all the fathers in the faith: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). And finally, the Great Commission spoken by the Lord Himself – “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28, 19-20). Should this not include our own children?

The spiritually immature Christian believes he does not have the necessary education or authority to disciple his children. He believes that only an ordained pastor with an expensive seminary degree can do the job right. Unfortunately, because he doesn’t know the scriptures well enough, he doesn’t realize it is his job., first and foremost. So, we contract our discipleship duties out to the church.

This is dangerous! If Westerners don’t start making discipleship a family business, coming generations will continue to fall prey to false teachers and false doctrines. There are church communities in the United States and in Western Europe who have fallen so far away from biblical truth that their “worship” is pure, unadulterated blasphemy. My heart goes out to the victims of these false teachers and preachers, because their salvation is at stake.

We need to stop going to church – we need to be the church, and this includes our children.