Thoughts on 'ReThink'

Hey guys,

I spoke with Andrew yesterday as I watched my little girl cheer and told him how much I was enjoying the book. Here are a couple of thoughts:

First, I have been convicted myself about my lack of discipleship among my own family. Rarely do I disciple purposefully my children while I am working all week at discipling other peoples' kids. This seems to be a very contradictory lifestyle which I have humbly confessed to my wife and children and have begun a family devotional time which has been extremely profitable.

Second, I would love if we could all share about where we gauge ourselves and our ministries regarding the 4 gauges. I think that would be a great time of sharing some positive steps our ministries have taken, but also be able to identify definite shortcomings.

Third, my purposeful targeting of parents as primary disciplers of their kids has been awful at best. Although starting out in ministry I determined to have a family based youth ministry, I realize that I have, in practice, moved far away from that philosophy. The sad thing is that most of my parents probably do not even realize it. I have not, nor have we, as a church taught our parents on how to be the primary disciplers of their kids, and I have not set up our ministry to maximize the influence and role of our parents. Time to take a step back and 'rethink.'

Finally, it was humbling to read our author quote the 'Westminster Assembly: Directory of Family Worship,' and see the stance they took on holding parents accountable for the spiritual formation taking place in their homes. In my church circle, we put a lot of weight on the 'Westminster Confession of Faith'. To be ordained as a pastor or elder in our church you must study that document and adhere to it's teachings. Yet, as faithfully as we hold that document up, all the while we fail to see another document they produced that in my estimation is just as important.

May all of our ministries and churches be a place where parents are taught, equipped, and impassioned for the ministry God has given them.

(Sorry I typed so long. Just had to get my thoughts out of my head! See you Tuesday and have a great time of worship this morning!)

Jason