Family Discipleship: The Family That Disciples (Ch.1)
What does family discipleship mean? Answer as a couple.
What does family discipleship look like in our home? Answer as a couple.
How do you currently rate your family discipleship process in your home? Answer as a couple.
Finally, what are your doing to invest in your spiritual life with Jesus? (Ex. reading the Bible, praying, attending church/small groups, how often?)
“The single greatest reason why we are losing our young people today is that the home is no longer the place where faith is transferred. Parents, the primary purpose of the home is the evangelization and discipleship of your children. You cannot outsource this vital component in the rearing of your children.”—Tony Evans
Whoever your children are, born to you or brought into your family, God has knowingly chosen you to train and care for them, to teach them all that he has commanded
Your family is the primary instrument and environment for discipleship in the life of your child, and your calling in this life is to give the discipleship of your home your unique best.
family discipleship is leading your home by doing whatever you can whenever you can to help your family become friends and followers of Jesus Christ
The Great Commission is for you to similarly make disciples of those who do not follow Christ, including those born or brought into your home.
Family Discipleship is not...
If your children are successful and they get everything they ever want, what good is it if in the process they forfeit their eternal soul (Mark 8:36)? We want you to have no greater joy in your child’s life, nothing that even comes close, than that they are walking in the truth (3 John 4).
Discipling your child is not primarily your church’s job, your child’s school’s job, or your pastor’s job. This job is yours
This job is vital and requires your unique best. You are irreplaceable in it. This job begins again for you today regardless of how long you have been parenting.
Making disciples at home is not “one more thing” to add to your list of parental tasks. It is the thing, the primary mission and calling that should undergird every single interaction your family is fortunate enough to have.
The truth is, with all your family has going on, you can’t afford not to be dedicated to family discipleship.
Family discipleship, in order to be rightly ordered and sustainable, should not only be something to “add” to your family’s routine; it needs to be woven into all of it. It needs to be ordinary
leading your family means going first, initiating what needs to be done
Spiritual leadership of your home starts with considering the spiritual needs of your home
Designing a family discipleship culture takes having a head of household that purposely sets the tone of the spiritual environment. It is a home that makes family discipleship important and normal. It prioritizes biblical values and incorporates them above and alongside the other values and idiosyncrasies of the family’s culture.