Who Really Disciples Children?

By Brian Lewis

After 20 years in youth and children’s ministry, I’m learning what successful discipleship looks like. I have watched a generation grow from small children into adulthood. As a children’s pastor, there is great joy when one of your “kids” chooses ministry. When someone you have taught begins to teach others (2 Timothy 2:2), discipleship is a reality.

Christian Wilson is one of my “kids,” and now, he is also the youth and children’s pastor of the church where I watched him grow from preschool to adulthood. His spiritual maturity, however, did not hinge on my ministry. Several key factors come into play.

The home environment is the most critical factor in seeing a child develop into a mature disciple. While many things influence a child’s life, none are more significant or powerful than the home life. God brings about life change, but godly parents pass along to their children the daily discipline of living out that faith in a practical and intentional way.

Our society has grown comfortable allowing professionals to handle important aspects of our children’s development. Schoolteachers provide academic instruction; coaches take care of motor skills; Sunday School teachers and youth ministers are responsible for discipleship. This should not be. Parents, the spiritual development and discipleship of your children are too vital to leave in the hands of any individual or ministry. It is the only aspect of your child’s development with eternal significance.

While I wish I could take the credit for Christian’s spiritual development, it was two parents, in love with Jesus Christ, who successfully filled their role as disciple-makers. John and Andrea understood the command to parents in Deuteronomy 6 and worked diligently to create an environment where child-like faith could grow and develop into saving faith.

It’s important to mention that parents should be careful to introduce their children to a relationship with Jesus Christ rather than a religion of morality. It’s too easy for children reared in a Christian home to adopt the religion without the relationship. They grow up going to church, reading the Bible, praying, and so on, but it’s critical that they understand this way of life in the context of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This is best communicated by observing a mom and dad who have their own vibrant relationship with Jesus.

The church does play a vital, although secondary, role in the discipleship of the next generation. As Paul said in Ephesians, pastors and teachers are to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12). For parents, discipleship of their children is an enormous and often overwhelming responsibility and flies in the face of our culture.

The church must be a place that empowers, equips, and enables parents to fulfill their God-given role of making disciples; a place where parents can come together, sharing their failures and successes; a place with the common goal of raising a generation that is passionately in love with Jesus Christ.

When the church and parents come together in their God-given roles, successful discipleship is the outcome.

About the Writer: Brian Lewis and his family are team members on the 180 Free Will Baptist Church planting team in Clarksville, Tennessee. Brian is the son of Bob Lewis, three-time Free Will Baptist church planter. For more information about Home Missions, please contact the office (877) 767-7674.