Parents: Should You Mandate Bible Reading for your Children?

 

This is probably one of the most common questions I hear from parents wanting to establish Christian disciplines in their kids.
Every Christian parent deals with this at some point. They struggle with what they should mandate versus just encourage their kids to do. And with this, how much? At what point will we defeat our purpose and discourage them?

OUR PRACTICE

This is what we do in our home. I am not saying it is for everyone, but we are supportive of it as a practice by conviction and experience. Our children range from 20 months to almost 16. There is quite a variety.
I’ll hit this from two angles, family and personal devotions.
Family Devotions: As a family, we work through books of the Bible. We typically do this after dinner in the evening. I read a section of Scripture and talk about it as we go. I weave in questions and application. I require everyone to participate and help the younger ones to do so.
We are also going through The Heidelberg Catechism to help provide a firm theological understanding.
Personal or Private Devotions: Once the kids are able to read, we require them to read their Bibles, journal and pray.
In the morning, our older children get up, take care of their chores and hygiene and then sit down to do their devotions. We ask them to think through the implications of the passage, journal the main idea, confess sin, connect the passage to the gospel and pray for grace-filled obedience. They can expect questions about what they’ve read, not always, but often.

OBJECTIONS

One objection to mandating Bible reading is that it may discourage the children who don’t believe.
First, I want to remember that I am responsible for my children. I am a steward of them. I want to do everything I can in my power to see them become faithful Christians. I understand that the way people become Christians and then grow to maturity is through the word of God (Rom. 1.16; 10.17; John 17.17). Therefore, I want to expose them as much as I can to the Bible. We do this as a family and then in their individual time. So, instead of discouraging them, if God is gracious, the exposure to the Bible will actually encourage them. It will be the means of opening eyes and hearts to believe.
Second, I want to remember that our home is a Christian home. While living here does not make you a Christian, it does mean that the home is going to reflect traditional Christian values and practices. Therefore, we are going to read, pray, sing, and talk about Christ and his word. I should never feel bad or discouraged about this. It is part of being a Christian.

POTENTIAL PITFALLS

There are some acknowledged potential pitfalls to this type of devotional mandate.
The kids might mistakenly think that their righteousness is merited by doing these things. They have to understand the purpose and context of the gospel (Phil. 3.1-9). This is incumbent upon the parents, particularly Dads.
Also, they might fall into the trap of disconnecting their hearts from the discipline and merely producing mechanical obedience. Again, the answer to this is the continual restating of the gospel by the parents. This trap is not limited to kids (read Isaiah 1).

OUR EXPERIENCE

After seeing this in place for several years now, I can say that the kids have become more hungry for the Bible. The more they are exposed to it, the more hungry they seem to become. They are reading and learning their Bibles. Of course it is always difficult with kids to have a perfect read on them, however, the mandated Bible reading seems to have had a positive impact on them. They are not just learning the Bible, they seem to actually have come to love it.
I should also note that this is not a pragmatic formula. It is not a “Christian in a Box” just-add-water recipe. If there is true love for Christ and his Word, I know that has come through the work of God the Holy Spirit. But I am also reminded that God uses means. This encourages me to persevere and continue being intentional with their exposure to the Bible. At the end of the day, if there is a Christian on the right of the equal sign, it is because the Spirit of God and the word of God are on the left of it.

A Prayer Plan for Pastors Based on the Prayers of Christ

 

As goes the pastor, so goes the church. As goes the church, so goes the nation … and the world. Church revitalization begins with pastoral revitalization. Our spiritual health will directly affect the health of our ministries.

There is no historic record of revival or revitalization apart from intentional prayer. Jesus modeled for us how church leaders can and should pray in John 17. He starts off praying for Himself, then for His disciples, then future believers and leaders like us. This is a simple and effective model that we can use in our own prayer lives … especially if we are hoping for revival in our own lives and churches.

1. JESUS PRAYED FOR HIMSELF FIRST

Praying for ourselves may seem counterintuitive, like putting the oxygen mask over your own face before you share it with a passenger in greater need. We all know that there is no such thing as a healthy church without a healthy pastor. Neglecting your own spiritual, physical and emotional needs will end up robbing your own family and church in the long run.

Jesus prayed for strength to finish the work God had called Him to do (vv 1-5). That was a smart thing to do because Jesus didn’t want to blow His assignment. Nor do we. The success of His mission, and ours, is to bring glory to the Father and grace to our brothers and neighbors.

In Matthew 6, Jesus also encouraged us to pray for our practical needs like direction (God’s will), resources (bread), forgiveness, and strength to fight temptation and evil. Don’t let the prosperity-gospel weirdos completely turn you off from praying for yourself. Jesus started with His own needs, but the direction soon turned outward in the primary part of His prayer.

2. JESUS PRAYED FOR HIS LEADERS

The largest part of Jesus’ prayer (vv 6-19) is spent interceding for His Disciples. Jesus had an inner circle for whom He was responsible. So do you and I. Of course, the closest in your inner circle is your family, so I would encourage you to start with them and work out from there.
Whether paid or volunteers, and regardless of titles, we all have a leadership circle that we need to be praying for and with regularity.

Your leaders are targets! Pray daily that your leaders “(do) not fall into disgrace and the Devil’s trap” (1 Timothy 3:7). Pastors, elders, deacons, teachers, committees and teams—all form a front line with you in an invisible war. Jesus prayed for the Father to “protect them by Your name” (v11) from the world who hates them (v14) and the Devil who plots against them (v15).
When I pray, my own family and life come first, then my staff, then other leaders. Jesus modeled this stewardship of His prayer time for us well.

3. JESUS PRAYED FOR FUTURE CHURCH LEADERS

In verses 20-26, Jesus changes the direction of His prayer from an exclusive small group of leaders to an inclusive group of future followers. This paradigm shift is an intentional prayer shift that I am convinced very few Christians make.
 
I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in Me through their message (v20)

But I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd (John 10:16).

LifeWay leader David Francis writes in Missionary Small Groups that healthy Christians think beyond their class to the community and (great) commission. For the individual, that means changing your focus from “me” to “us” to “them.” Imagine what our church would look like if we prayed and acted more like missionaries.

I find it very interesting that Jesus was praying for the Disciples’ disciples. Their spiritual children and grandchildren would at first deal with horrendous persecution, so Jesus prays “protect them.”
Then they would face a more subtle enemy—disunity, so Jesus prays “unite them.” “One”= unity. It is very important to our Father that His children get along. Not only are fighting children annoying, they are a distraction to the mission of reaching a lost world.

May they be completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me (v 23).

Formerly churched people have not so much lost interest in Jesus as they have given up on His Bride. Every time believers backbite, our message takes a hit. Eighty percent of Americans will not be in any church this Sunday, and only a third of church members will even show up.

By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35).

PRAY ON!

Jesus showed us how to live in a constant state of dependence on the Father—through intimate prayer. Jesus is still praying for His beautiful, dysfunctional Bride—us. Will you join Him in praying for our family and church leadership’s protection, provision and unity?

7 Habits of JOYFUL Pastors

 

I have in front of me the names of 20 pastors I know well. It did not take long to assemble the names by the specific traits I sought. Simply said, I wanted to find out whose names I would include in looking for pastors who are joyful. The list was simple, easy and fun to compile. Just noting each of their names brought a smile to my face.

Yes, I understand that such an exercise is highly subjective. I would not put my evidence before the rigors of scientific research. But I still think the results are worthy of note.
The common traits
Having gathered the names, I then asked these questions: Why do I think each of these pastors is joyful? More specifically, what traits do I see in them that illustrate the joy that they have? My reflections produced seven such traits.

1. They read their Bible daily. Their time in the Word is above and beyond sermon preparation time or teaching preparation. They make certain they read and study the Bible for their own edification and spiritual growth.

2. They have a daily prayer time. All of them have quiet times alone with God. Many include their spouses in additional prayer times. They feel they cannot be the servants God has called them to be unless they are in regular conversations with the God they serve.

3. They literally put their family time on their calendars. They make certain their children and spouses have time with them. Most of them have regular dates with their spouses and specific plans for their children each week.

4. They have a long-term perspective. These pastors understand that the criticism of today will be a non-issue tomorrow. They don’t feel the need to make disruptive changes because they have the luxury of an incremental pace. And they tend to develop rich relationships with members in the church because they plan to be around awhile.

5. They love to work with and help other churches. They have no sense of competition with other churches in the community. Indeed, they willingly and gladly work alongside them. They have great relationships with fellow pastors who serve in the same ministry area.

6. They have a great sense of humor. I have spoken to each of the 20 pastors on my list on numerous occasions. It is rare for our conversations to end without some healthy laughter. These pastors take their ministries seriously, but they don’t take themselves too seriously. They are willing and eager to laugh at themselves.

7. They rarely blame others or their circumstances. These pastors don’t typically exhibit a “victim mentality.” They take responsibility for their ministries and others. It is rare to hear them complain or engage in conversations about the inadequacies of others or the rotten situations they encountered.

My heroes
The Apostle Paul wrote from a prison to the Philippian church: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4, HCSB). Paul’s joy didn’t depend on his circumstances; it was not measured by successes of human metrics. Instead, it simply but profoundly rested in the Lord. So it is with these pastors.
They represent churches in 15 states. They serve in churches as small as 75 in weekly attendance and as large as multiple thousands. Some have been in very difficult situations, while others have not. Regardless of their lot, they have all found joy in the Lord. The seven traits above are both the result of their joy and the cause of it.
These pastors are my heroes. I need to learn so much more from them.

Life Is Both Beautiful and Broken

Life is beautiful.

The gift of life and its experiences are truly amazing. And while it would be great to imagine a life and a world where we only experienced beauty and good, we know that reality to simply be false.

Life is broken.

The reality of pain and disappointment is something I don’t have to explain to anybody. We all understand.

But what we often fail to understand is that while God doesn’t necessarily will such pain and tragedy to be a part of our lives, God is with us…even in the broken and perhaps, especially in the broken.

You see, if God is only present in the good, triumphs, victories, highs, and blessings of our lives, we’ve all been duped. Seriously duped.

That would be a false gospel. Please,  don’t believe in a false gospel.

As a pastor, I’ve often had the front row view of these incredibly hard moments in people’s lives:
Sickness, betrayal, isolation, depression, death, cancer, and the list goes on and on.

I think part of the reason why “the broken” is so difficult for us to handle is that we never plan or want to plan for such things. Do we ever plan for disappointment? Pain? Hardship? Brokenness? Do we ever pray for it? In our sense of idealism, fairness, and even faith, we believe that “everything” will be good since the world was “fixed.”

Well, we know that is simply not the case. It’s not the case for the world. It’s not the case for the friend or acquaintance we hear about, but we don’t ever want to believe that can be the case for “me.”
Well…
Things don’t always turn out the way we envision in our lives. We try. We pursue. We dream. But we come to realize that we have fallen short in a fallen world. Others have fallen short. We are simply broken people living in a broken world. And while skeptics and cynics will chomp on the opportunity to deride Christians for our “naiveté,”

This is the great hope of the Gospel:

Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 8:33-39]

For me, there is no silver bullet or magic theological answer. The good news is NOT that God guarantees a life of absolute bliss, blessing, and perfection but that in all seasons of our lives,
God is with us.

And in the big picture of God’s meta-narrative, all things will be restored back unto Himself. Shalom will be fully restored. Beauty will have the final say.
Know this and live in this truth:

God loves you.

 

                         Christianity

 Christianity is one of the prominent religions in India. At present there are about 25 million Christians in India. It is interesting to note that the Christian population in India is more than the entire population of Australia and New Zealand or total population of a number of countries in Europe. Kerala, Goa and Mizoram states have high concentration of Christian population in India. Kerala has the largest number of Christians among the states. Christians including Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants form the third largest group in India.

About 73% of the Christians in India are Catholics. The Catholic Church in India is composed of three individual Churches- Latin, Malabar and Malankara. Christian community includes Syrian Christians, Knanaya Christians, Goan Christians, Tamil Christians, Anglo-Indians, Naga Christians etc. All these Christian communities differ in language, social customs and economic status. It is not surprising that Christians in India occupy high positions like cabinet ministers, governors, high court judges, University vice-chancellors, bureaucrats etc.

St. Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, came to India in 52 A.D. and landed at Kodungallur on the Malabar Coast. He preached the Gospel to the Brahmin families of Kerala. St. Thomas established seven Churches at: Kodungallur, Kottakkavu, Palayur, Kollam, Kokkamangalam, Niranam and Chayil. St. Thomas came to India when many European countries had not yet become Christian and so those Indians who trace their Christianity to him have a longer history and a higher ancestry than that of Christians of many of the European countries."

                      Jama Masjid

 

Jama Masjid of Delhi is the largest mosque in India. The Jama Masjid stands across the road in front of the Red Fort. Built between 1644 and 1658, Jama Masjid is one of the last architectural works of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The spacious courtyard of the Jama Masjid holds thousands of faithful. Jama Masjid is located on a mound in the heart of the old city and projects beautifully into the Old-Delhi skyline. Jama Masjid Mosque was built in red sandstone and marble by more than 5000 artisans. Originally called the Masjid-i-Jahan-Numa, or "mosque commanding view of the world", the Jama Masjid stands at the center of the erstwhile capital city of the Mughals, Shahjahanbad.

The Jama Masjid was completed under the supervision of Saadullah Khan, the Prime Minister of Shah Jahan. A sum of Rs 10 lakhs was spent on the construction of the Jama Masjid. The Jama Masjid is built on a red sandstone porch, about 30 feet (10 m) from the level of the ground and is about 1400 square yards (1200 m²) in extent. The Jama Masjid has three gateways, four towers and two minarets. The gateways in the north and south are led by a fleet of steps. The main entrance is on the eastern side facing the red fort. It was probably used by the emperors. The tower of the Jama Masjid is made up of five distinctive storeys. Each one of the storeys has a projecting balcony. The adjoining edifices are beautifully done with calligraphy.

The first three storeys of the Jama Masjid tower are made of red sandstone and the fourth one is made of marble, while the fifth is made of sandstone. The Jama Masjid is covered with intricate carvings and has verses inscribed from the holy Koran. The grand Red fort (Lal Qila) stands on the eastern side of the Jama Masjid. The main prayer hall of the Jama Masjid is made up of high cusped arches and marble domes. The cabinet in the north gate of the Jama Masjid contains a collection of Muhammad's relics - the Koran written on deerskin, a red beard-hair of the prophet, his sandals and his footprints, implanted in a marble block.