I wonder how many Christians would continue living like a marginalized Christian if they had an honest assessment from their children? If your family does not even believe that you are an honest, Bible-believing Christian, what are the odds it can be true in the other areas of your life? Would your child even describe you as a Christian? How much of what they have learned to put into practice in their own Christian walk would they attribute to being handed down to you by them directly?

I am sure there are responsible Christian adults out there still taking seriously the spiritual growth and education of their children, but I have to say that fewer and fewer cross my path these days. When so many activities have been off-loaded to school and civic organizations and society at large in order to accommodate an adult’s desire for their personal activities to not be disturbed, it seems like a similar pattern has occurred where church is concerned. Families may drive together to church, but once there they seem as separated into activities for each demographic as family life in general. When exactly does a child come to know God’s Word and ways by the example of their parent today?

There has been a very deeply disturbing statistical trend among the under 30 crowd in recent years which shows them to be particularly disconnected from nearly all things Christian. If such things were not really that important to their parents, it should not be ultimately surprising they are not that important to them later in life. If it was not important for their role models to “keep His commandments“, such a deficiency almost seems inevitable.

Sorry to ramble on here, but I am just sort of wondering aloud about the way we approach and implement children’s programs in modern church. I wonder to what degree we give them the priority “that they should put their confidence in God“, emphasize that they should “not forget the works of God“, and most importantly to “keep His commandments“. I remain unconvinced that the lion’s share of such lessons can ever be learned except directly at the feet of parents dedicated to giving such values the highest priority to the degree that they are a visible testimony to all, especially their children._††_†

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