My last article served to chastise us in the church for missing the largest target in the demographic game. This one is specifically for the fathers among us. Ladies, feel free to follow along. But, this is written for your husbands, sons, fathers, grandfathers, grandsons, cousins, and other God-fearing men in your life.
Restating the question: Fathers, do you want your children to grow up to be faithful Christians? Do you want them attending church regularly? Do you want your daughter to find a faithful, Christian husband? Do you want your son to find a faithful, Christian wife? Do you want your grandchildren raised in a home with regular church attendance?
I can’t imagine one of you answering with anything less than a fervent, “Yes!” to any one of those questions.
That last article spelled out some clear data on fathers and church attendance. You, men, are the most influential force on your children in their church attendance, as adults. You predict how they will behave, how their children will be raised, and if the future generations of your progeny will remain in or return to the church.
We could quibble at this point about the Christian faith and whether church attendance maintains Christians or not. There are gradations of grayness here. But, we, men, function better in a world with black and white distinctions. Here are those two simple truths:
Christians attend the gathering of the faithful in the Lord’s house often, to hear and receive His gifts for us.
Unbelievers do not attend the gathering of the faithful in the Lord’s house, because they neither fear the Lord nor desire His gifts.
If a child is raised never seeing a rifle, hiking through the woods, or tracking game, will that child grow up to be a hunter? Read that again substituting any activity in life: fishing, camping, ranching, farming, reading, speaking, walking, etc. Children are a collection of the influences and the activities in which they engage. They may not grow up doing everything they learned. But, it’s pretty unlikely that they’ll grow up doing a thing they seldom or never saw modelled for them.
You may say, “What does it matter? My kids know their Lord and their salvation in Jesus.”
St. Peter says this, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” [1 Peter 5:8-11]
Fathers are the strongest indicator of their children’s future church attendance, and church attendance is the strongest indicator of Christianity within people. Knowing that, how could you, a Christian father, not take his children to church often?
The Devil, the world, and this sinful flesh are seeking to separate your children from the love of God, and y’all too. Where? The Adversary’s influence is at play in everything we see, read, watch, and learn apart from the Word of God. Attending to the Lord’s house to hear His Word and receive His gifts vaccinates us against the works of the Devil and His minions. It’s not a perfect inoculation. But, the converse is a near perfect guarantee of failure.
Strong Christian men raise faithful Christian children.
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX\
©2021 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com.
