Ministry At Home

Ministry At Home
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I heard a radio station share a story that really caught my attention. The host was discussing a study done by a prominent institution that revealed three characteristics of children who grew up in the church and continued to grow in their faith long after they went out on their own. I was super interested in the article because I have two boys at home who are involved in our church, have professed faith in Christ, periodically read their Bible and arent afraid to pray. However, I also know that they are young (15 and 11), and a good bit of their faith is still connected to my wife and I.

The research suggested that the most important skills adopted were:

(1) They learned how to read and study the Bible

(2) They were taught how to share the gospel

(3) They actively participated in discipling other believers.

For anyone that is a follower of Christ and has studied the calling of Jesus this list may seem like Christ-follower 101. However, I realized that no one is going to teach these skills to my boys except for me; it is what God has called me to do! So to that end, I set out on a mission to equip my boys to do each of these. I would love to share with you the great success I am having by highlighting the progress of our work by listing the verses they have memorized, the number of people they have led to Christ, or the number of friends they are actively discipling. Unfortunately, none of that is really happening. The truth is that my time with my boys has been a work in progress. In fact, the lessons I have learned (and am still learning) were from trial and error, but praise God as the great teacher!

 

The first lesson my boys taught me is to adjust my approach. Over the years, I have developed a “system” with guys that included Bible reading, verse memory and a few discussion questions. This type of structure just didnt work with my boys. As a result, I had to develop a different approach. Today, we read through a chapter in Proverbs over breakfast and talk about how we can apply it in our lives (in 30 minutes or less). This looser approach has been a big help. The second big lesson they taught me was the importance of regular encouragement. The difference in discipling my boys versus men in the market place is the amount of time we spend together. I am with my family far more than anyone else, and I realized early on that they needed to be encouraged and affirmed much more than they need to be challenged. I have found that encouragement opens them up to meaningful discussion when we dig into Gods word, and it has been a real blessing for our time together. How are you handling your time with those closest to you? Are you trying to disciple according to their needs, or your own system? May God guide your steps to make a lasting impact on those closest to you.

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