children/youth train em up

Guys thank you for listening to our heart in regards to how together we can live out Proverbs 22:6 NIV Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

 we shared last night statistics that show 85% of the youth today after graduation from high school will not darken a place of worship and how 2 years ago knowing that statistic we felt it necessary to train our children up in a different manner. Check out this statement from the Barna group:

 George Barna, who directed the research, noted that millions of parents are unaware of the breadth of spiritual needs their children have. “Of the 51 million children under the age of 18 who live in the United States, more than 40 million of them do not know Jesus Christ as their savior, which suggests that there are some basic unmet spiritual needs that parents are overlooking. This is one of the most significant and fertile mission fields in the nation, yet the very people who claim responsibility for the spiritual growth of those children are doing little about it beyond dropping their kids off at church. Churches could help more by being increasingly proactive in preparing parents to handle that responsibility wisely (www.barna.org)

 Barna’s research also indicates that sometimes parents are not able to guide their children spiritually because the parents are struggling with their own faith development. “When it comes to raising children to be spiritually mature, the old adage, ‘you can’t give what you don’t have,’ is pertinent for millions of families. Most parents proclaim that the spiritual nurturing of their children is their job, but are very happy to let their church shape the child’s faith,” according to the researcher. “Unfortunately, no matter how hard a church tries, it is incapable of bringing a child to complete spiritual maturity: that is the job of the family. The more willing churches are to play the co-dependent role in this drama, the less likely we are to see spiritually healthy families and a generation of young people who grow into mature believers.” (www.barna.org)

 Mama’s, daddy’s, grandmama’s, granddaddy’s, aunts, uncles…people leading ministries that are serving this demographic. If you are unsure in how to help your child develop spiritually, the first step is to admit this and let’s dive in together! I believe this to be an extremely exciting opportunity to have others say me too, in the arena of “not sure” on how….WE WILL HELP….

 There are families in our midst that would love to share their way of training em up to make Jesus famous ….look at that number again gang….roughly 80% of the youth in america do not know Jesus, sure most have heard name, but what does that mean for them?

 Please open your homes to each other and begin to teach, train em up together….if you don’t know where to start, utilize the questions in the emails that are sent out each week on the verses we will discuss each Saturday at ReCharge…or raise your hand and give me, or someone you know that is teaching/living out the teachings of Christ and ask them…man o man I’m really starting to get pumped about who will raise their hand for HIM..men this starts with us!

 in closing isn’t it pretty cool that the proverb we read earlier which states train them up in the way they should go…..check out Saul (before he became Paul) referred to our brothers and sisters in his day…Acts 9:1-4…the rest of the chapter is pretty cool too!

 

love em up!