Ed Stetzer serves as President of Lifeway (Baptist publisher) Research. He admitted that because of this, he’s very into statistics and information. Although I disagreed with how many of his results were gathered, and what conclusions he came to….he presented some still valid encouragement toward faith in the home.
He quoted (but didn’t give credit to) the term “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism“. The fact that many people (not just teens) are pursuing a god that doesn’t exist. One that desires us to just generally be “good people”. That wants to make us feel better all the time, and put band-aids on our wounds. That such a god must exist “somewhere out there, somehow”, but not quite giving it a name, or open to what god may mean in our reality today.
If that’s the god we serve, that’s the god our teens will pretend to serve while church services are entertaining enough, and then opt out when they realize the hypocrisy of declaring one thing, and living something quite different.
Stetzer reminded us the value of “owning your Faith” – as a parent AND as a family. In lieu of Deuteronomy 6:4-9, that these things would be a part of every area of our being, and that would be obvious to our children and visitors to our home and life. He gave 3 tips here:
1. Sharing Your Faith – Repeat them, vs. tell them. We connect what is, with what has been.
2. Living a Life – Daily walking from, and drenched in the life described in these verses.
3. Marking Your Home – not just decorating, but it being evident to anyone who “peeked in” on your life this past week…..was it evident who/what you were about?
Yes. I desire this….for myself….for my children…and for the homes in my church. Not because it’ll help “retain members” now and in the future. But because God’s Kingdom desires to be fully realized not only in our churches, but in our homes as well. May His Glory be known, and realized in our homes this week…
words from wick 