Discipleship Starts at Home

I remember a time a few years ago where I was talking with a student about how she could grow and mature in her walk with Jesus - and I really stressed the need for the Word every single day in her life. We were still talking about it after church one Wednesday night and we happened to walk beside her dad after service and I jokingly said, “I’m sure your dad would love to do a bible study with you every night!” His immediate response was, “That’s what we pay you for!” I know he was joking and this guy would have been more than happy to do that at his daughter’s request - and I remember thinking that surely that isn’t the mindset of a lot of churchgoers.

However, after spending a decade in student ministry in the local church, the unfortunate reality is that this is how a lot of parents view the church. Between the busyness of life and what little time families have together already, they see it as the responsibility of the church to lay the foundation, build it up and make sure their kids know everything that is needed to have a solid and consistent relationship with Jesus. It didn’t take me long to understand why though. Truthfully, the reason that a lot of parents depends on the church to disciple their kids is because a lot of parents are depending on the church (and the church alone) to disciple themselves. I read a staggering statistic recently - roughly 11% of proclaiming Christians ready the bible daily. 

11%. One out of every 10 or so people that attend your church are reading their bible regularly. There’s a reason why many believe we are living in the most biblically illiterate time that we’ve ever seen. Many are relying on the church to do what has to start in the home. I used to tell my students and their parents that it would be impossible for me to adequately disciple their kids with a 30 minute sermon each week and that those are meant to build on top of what should already be there. And the same goes for everyone - our own spiritual growth should not be dependent upon what the pastor is preaching on a Sunday morning.

Jesus said these words in Matthew 6:11 - what we know as the Lord’s prayer - “Give us this day our daily bread.” Jesus is casting vision for what a relationship with the Lord should look like - it has to be something daily, which means it has to start at home. We can preach powerful sermons and do everything we can to disciple, but if that’s the only time our people are being fed, they are going to be severely spiritually malnourished. 

I think we need to step back and recognize that, as followers of Jesus, it is our responsibility to pursue our own spiritual growth. It is a, as Jesus mentioned, daily responsibility to spend time with the Lord, to be shaped by His Word, and to allow Him to transform our lives from the inside out. No one can do that for us. 

And if we want to continue to shape the next generation, this has to start at home. That is how we build disciples for generations.