Family Equipping Ministry: A Great Need

I am more and more burdened with the needs of our church families. The culture is so contrary to Christian living, even the American Dream many of our adults are chasing goes contrary to the Word of God in so many areas. Parenting wisdom is no longer sought from the Bible, but learned from TV shows, movies, and celebrities like Dr. Phil and Oprah.

Our families need help.There is a war for our children. The enemy wants to destroy them, to lead them away from a life of faith in Jesus Christ. The enemy of our souls would have our children fall in love with the lesser glories of this world, rather than the greater and more majestic glory of the Creator. As a Pastor, I cannot let that happen. I must fight this. But, I cannot fight it by myself. I need you! I need your prayers. I need your wisdom and insight. And, I need your commitment. We need to fight together, for our children, for our families, for our church, and for the future of Christianity in our community.

Lest you think I exaggerate concerning the situation, look around our community. Our area becomes more and more unchurched, by the week. Less and less people are coming to the Church, not just our church, but any church, for help in raising kids, and in leading their families to be on mission for Jesus Christ. Recent examples of teen pregnancies, legal issues, encounters with drugs and alcohol have occurred IN OUR SMALL CONGREGATION. Marriages have been wrecked by unfaithfulness. Families are falling apart because there is little sense of the true purpose of Christian marriage. The wisdom of the Bible is no longer being lived out in our families and fewer and fewer people in the church are qualified to teach biblical principles of life because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not understood. The sad thing is that very few of the situations our parents face are brought to me for prayer and counsel. How can the church help when struggling parents keep silent?

Lives not lived in the power and wisdom of the Gospel are powerless, pointless lives. Unfortunately, the world has been very successful at convincing us the Gospel is unimportant or irrelevant for our daily lives. This is a lie from Satan himself, and we must combat it.

In the June Members’ Meeting I shared with those in attendance my burden and vision for strengthening families in our community.

I proposed that we needed everyone in the church to make the sacrifices (1) to restart our AWANA program, (2) to hold Discipleship training for our youth, and (3) to change the format of our Sunday evening services. Instead of holding our traditional worship service, we will hold special seminars aimed at strengthening  and equipping our families. All in attendance voiced their affirmation of the direction I proposed.

In order to confront family and parenting issues directly I will be conducting Gospel-centered, grace based seminars for our families. Please prayerfully join in helping our families become Gospel-centered families, who are raising their kids to love Jesus with all their hearts and minds and bodies.

We need to teach families to understand their mission, and the important mission of the Church. We need to train up godly families who will serve Jesus Christ through the Church for the rest of their lives, or until Jesus returns.

How will we do this?

Beginning on Sunday evening September 18th, the week after Homecoming, we will begin AWANA and Discipleship seminars aimed at strengthening our families. As the Youth and Children are participating in Discipleship, so will the adults. We need dozens of volunteers to participate so that there are adequate numbers of workers in all three areas.

How can you help?

BE PRAYERFUL: Join me and pray for our church as we take this step and embrace this initiative.

BE ACTIVE: Far too many of our members see Sunday nights as optional. We need this ministry, and we need “all hands on deck” to participate. If you love this church and our community, please make Sunday evenings a priority.

Then, serve in one or more ways:

BE AN AWANA HELPER: Sheila will need help building an organization to adequately staff an AWANA program. She will need leaders, listeners, support personnel, and outreach people.

BE A YOUTH TEACHER/HELPER: We want to provide discipleship training for our students as well. We need facilitators and leaders who care about our students, and who will devote time to preparing and teaching.

BE TAUGHT: Commit to being trained to practice these teachings in your family.

BE A MENTOR: Even if you no longer have children in the home, you can still be integral in helping raise healthy Christian families by  being someone who has been trained to share this Biblical wisdom with others.

BE TRAINED TO MAKE DISCIPLES: Attend the seminars with the intent of becoming part of the teaching team and to learn share these teachings with others in Sunday School classes, Bible studies and small groups.

Upcoming Seminars:

Getting to the Heart of Parenting  – Dr. Paul Tripp
(10 Sessions) Sept. 18-Nov. 20, 2011

A New Day For Financial Freedom  – Dr. Ed Stetzer
(4 Sessions) January 15-Feb. 5, 2012

What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage  – Dr. Paul Tripp
(10 Sessions) Feb. 26-May 6, 2012