This morning parents, siblings, and pastors saw our youth
leave for Mission-Fuge. As a parent I realize the trust that is required to
turn a student over to the care of someone else for a week. As we prayed over
them yesterday in worship we prayed not just a generic “God please use this
time” kind of prayer; we prayed for more specific things. We prayed that in the
worship time God would use that to draw them to Him. In the missions
experiences their eyes would be open to people who may not look like or dress
like them but who also have been created in the image of God. We prayed not
only that God would work through them during this time but that He would work
in them as well; that they would come home forever changed.
There’s a lot of discussion going on about what it will take
to keep our students in church once they move out of the home. I was reading a
study called the National Study of Youth and Religion which spoke to that. This
study found three specific factors that were crucial to helping a student take
ownership of their faith into adulthood.
- The student’s parents practiced their faith in the home and in daily life, not just in public-church settings.
- The student had at least one significant adult mentor or friend, other than parents, who practiced the faith seriously.
- The student had at least one significant spiritual experience before the age of 17.
In essence the study found that teenagers are most likely to
retain their Christian faith into adulthood if they have had a meaningful and
healthy relationship with parents who practice their faith, a faithful
Christian mentor outside of the family, and with God himself. I know from
raising three kids that men are much more confident and comfortable discipling
those outside their family. Most of the men I know (myself included) find it
difficult to disciple their own families; I think the devil continually tells
us we are hypocrites, that our family knows the ‘real’ us and because they do
we are not qualified to lead. Yes they do but know the real us but that’s a
good thing. Men, when we mess up and own it we are teaching our kids that this
is what a Christian man does when he messes up; he takes ownership of it.
Discipling our students is about being real.
As an ‘empty-nester’ (our 3 have moved out of
the home) and seeing other parents let loose of their students this morning for
a week, Psalm 127 came to mind. Psalm 127:3-5 reads, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand
of a warrior, so are the
children of one’s youth. Happy is
the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall
speak with their enemies in the gate.” Our children are a blessing from
the Lord and every child should be told that regularly. As parents we must remember that arrows were made with great care
but they were never intended to stay in the quiver; they were made to be shot.
We raise our kids as best we can then we take them from the quiver, shoot them
out into the world and pray that they hit the mark. There are no guarantees in
parenting; once a child is an adult they make their own choices. Once you ‘let
go of the arrow’, then all you can do is pray. I’m praying our students hit the
bulls-eye this week as they serve their Lord and others.
