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The Role of the Local Church in Strengthening Families · Equipped for Impact

• 0:07
  Nate: Welcome to Equipped for Impact, the podcast designed to assist Christian parents, leaders and educators to raise up the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence their world.
• 0:19
  Nate: For Christ, we're your hosts.
• 0:20
  Nate: I'm Nate and I'm Lewis, so let's get started.
• 0:24
  Nate: So last episode, we looked at how parents are the ones with the primary responsibility to disciple their children and we threw a lot out there.
• 0:34
  Nate: But, parents, as you listen to that, let's just remember that you are not alone in this journey.
• 0:39
  Nate: God's given you a community of believers to support you as you raise your kids.
• 0:46
  Nate: You may have heard the saying you know it takes a village to raise a child, and I'm not exactly sure where that came from, lewis.
• 0:52
  Nate: I looked it up and of course, everybody on the internet has an opinion and they're probably all wrong, but wherever it came from, I think that it echoes really well what we see in Scripture.
• 1:00
  Nate: I think that it echoes really well what we see in Scripture.
• 1:04
  Nate: God gave us the local church to be that community to raise a Christian into a young Christian person, and that's what we're talking about today.
• 1:17
  Nate: So where do we see this idea as the church leading or helping parents raise their children?
• 1:21
  Luis: It's actually sprinkled throughout the Bible.
• 1:24
  Luis: When parents raise their children, it's actually sprinkled throughout the Bible.
• 1:26
  Luis: But I think there's some key areas that we can probably focus in.
• 1:28
  Luis: A passage that's very familiar to many of our listeners is 1 Corinthians 12, 12 through 27, where it talks about the church as the body of Christ, and so what we see there is that every part of the body has a role right, and so what we see Paul describing there is that every part of the body has a role right, and so what we see Paul describing there is that every part of the body is important to the work of the body.
• 1:51
  Luis: So if you take one part out, then the body doesn't function like it's intended to, and so what we see here is that the church is not a replacement for the discipleship of children, but it's a complementary force that works together with the parents.
• 2:07
  Luis: So if you have the parent doing the discipling and the church isn't reinforcing it, that's not a good recipe.
• 2:13
  Luis: But if you have a parent that's outsourcing discipleship to the church, that's not a good recipe either.
• 2:19
  Nate: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think we've seen that a lot.
• 2:21
  Nate: Parents will just kind of in general in America, you know, they go to church and they drop their kid off, and your church might even have a family life center where you drop the kids off and they, you know, disperse and they go to the professional disciple makers, or that's what we think, right, and your family is not together, right.
• 2:39
  Nate: But that's a great, you know concept.
• 2:42
  Nate: You could even think of it like a team.
• 2:43
  Nate: That's.
• 2:43
  Nate: That's a great you know concept.
• 2:44
  Nate: I, uh, you could even think of it like a team.
• 2:45
  Nate: You know, changing the illustration a little bit.
• 2:46
  Nate: You know, you've got all the different roles.
• 2:48
  Nate: I'm a baseball guy Um, you know, I know you're.
• 2:51
  Nate: You're more of a football guy, right?
• 2:53
  Nate: Um, florida Gators, right.
• 2:55
  Luis: No, sorry, sorry, sorry, we got it.
• 2:57
  Luis: I think we have to edit that part out, but, but.
• 3:00
  Nate: But it's that idea of every team member has their role, and if your third baseman just decides to fall asleep, you don't have coverage there at the hot corner, and so you've got to have each member playing their role.
• 3:12
  Nate: And that's the way the church is.
• 3:14
  Nate: It's the different parts playing their role.
• 3:16
  Nate: You've got parents investing in the kids, but then you've also got other adults, other youth leaders, who are parts of the body of Christ.
• 3:27
  Nate: You know, really speaking into kids' lives, I like the Titus 2, where it talks about, you know, older men investing in the younger men and older women investing in the younger women, and we see that in the church.
• 3:37
  Luis: You know, and I think one of the key parts that we have emphasized and if you don't get anything else out of what we've said over these first few podcasts parents, you are the primary disciple makers, and so you need to understand that the church is there to provide reinforcement and support you, just like what Nate just talked about with Titus 2.
• 3:57
  Luis: So, in the context of a church, you have older men discipling younger men.
• 4:01
  Luis: You have older women discipling younger women discipling younger men.
• 4:05
  Luis: You have older women discipling younger women.
• 4:06
  Luis: In fact, it reminds me of a story that Mark Halleck from Calvary Chapel shares, where his church is intentional about intergenerational discipleship.
• 4:13
  Luis: So what they actually do is they create a small group of three people.
• 4:17
  Luis: They have an older man and they have a middle-aged man and usually their son or a young relative that is being discipled.
• 4:27
  Luis: So you have the oldest man in the group that's discipling the middle man and then the middle man is discipling the youngest, but then they're all meeting together for breakfast, and so this is replicated throughout the church, where you see a grandma who may not have children in the church, or grandchildren.
• 4:45
  Luis: That's discipling a mom who has a daughter and they're all meeting together.
• 4:49
  Nate: That's awesome.
• 4:49
  Luis: And I think that's really where we see that idea of Titus 2 playing out is when you have intergenerational discipleship, and I think that's really what Paul's getting at when he talks about every part of the body having a part to play.
• 5:02
  Nate: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean parents, how many times have you said something to your kid?
• 5:07
  Nate: A thousand times, and then all of a sudden they come home, whether it's from school or from church, and they're like hey, mom, hey dad, like you know, my teacher, my youth pastor, they said this and they say something that they think is like totally novel to you and it's like I've been telling you this for years and that's like I've been telling you this for years.
• 5:23
  Nate: And that's what I love.
• 5:24
  Nate: Like when I was a youth pastor, I would take my kids to summer camp and I intentionally picked churches or camps where it was, you know, a speaker that I knew and I could trust and I knew they would be saying the same thing I'd been saying in youth group and they'd have counselors that were trained in the cabins with the kids.
• 5:42
  Nate: Because I knew like, just something about that different context just helps the message get through and it's eye-opening to these kids because they hear something totally, they think it's totally new and it's like, no, this is like the 17th time you've heard it, but something about that different voice saying the exact same thing really really makes it stick.
• 6:01
  Luis: Yeah, and that's why it's important for parents to make sure that you're in a church that is preaching and teaching and reinforcing what you are trying to instill at home.
• 6:11
  Luis: Right, we live in this age today where people are church shopping, right, and so they're looking for that next best thing, but the most important part of what's happening there is the preaching of the Word of God.
• 6:23
  Luis: What's being preached from the pulpit?
• 6:25
  Luis: What's being taught in Sunday school in small groups?
• 6:29
  Luis: What are your children learning?
• 6:31
  Luis: Are they just going to church to play games and eat pizza?
• 6:33
  Luis: Because I was a youth pastor and I know that that's the easy way to attract kids into an attractional model.
• 6:40
  Luis: But unless they're being taught and reinforce what you're teaching, then it's pointless.
• 6:47
  Luis: It becomes a country club, it becomes a hangout place.
• 6:49
  Luis: And parents, on the flip side of that, make sure that you're instilling something at home, because if you're not, church leaders aren't a replacement for you.
• 6:59
  Luis: They are the ones that are there to support you, and so you can't assume that the pastor is responsible for the spiritual health of your child.
• 7:09
  Luis: You can't assume that the youth pastor or children's pastor is the one that's going to be held accountable for what your child is learning if you're not doing your part at home, right right, which I think that leads really well into this next idea.
• 7:23
  Nate: That was in 1 Corinthians 12, talking about the body of Christ.
• 7:27
  Nate: But in 1 Timothy 3, paul calls the church the pillar and ground of truth.
• 7:34
  Nate: And it's the idea there that you know this is where you know that foundation comes from.
• 7:39
  Nate: You know the church is going to guard and proclaim biblical truth in the midst of a world that distorts that truth.
• 7:47
  Nate: So that's an important thing.
• 7:48
  Nate: You know, make sure the church you're attending really does stand on truth and preach the truth, because you don't want your students, your kids, to have that mixed message coming at them.
• 7:59
  Luis: Yeah, I think a good way to think about that, nate, is the idea, the image of a lighthouse that's standing firm in a storm, right?
• 8:08
  Luis: So?
• 8:08
  Luis: Everything around it, the waves are crashing, the storm is pouring down, lightning is flashing, but the lighthouse is standing firm, it's not moving, and that light is guiding ships safely amidst that storm.
• 8:24
  Luis: And so the church is that same lighthouse for our families, because, as the culture around them is throwing all these things at our families, at our students, and they're hearing it, they're seeing it, hopefully you have a church that is that firm lighthouse that's guiding you through that storm.
• 8:45
  Nate: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:46
  Nate: And I mean that idea of the waves and the storm.
• 8:50
  Nate: Scripture uses that a lot.
• 8:51
  Nate: In Ephesians it talks about having that anchor in the midst so you're not tossed back and forth in the storm.
• 8:54
  Nate: Scripture uses that a lot In Ephesians.
• 8:55
  Nate: It talks about having that anchor in the midst so you're not tossed back and forth in the waves, and that's really important.
• 9:00
  Nate: Even you and I we've gone to seminary and we still sit under great pastors who preach the Word of God very clearly.
• 9:09
  Nate: And as they're going through it they'll pull out different ideas and different concepts.
• 9:11
  Nate: And as they're going through it they'll pull out different ideas and different concepts.
• 9:14
  Nate: And that's a safe place to think through some of these major cultural issues.
• 9:19
  Nate: If you think of them like those waves, it's going to change depending on what the topic of the day is in culture.
• 9:26
  Nate: But we're able to have that firm foundation in the truth of the Word of God, not what's popular, not opinion, and that's really important.
• 9:36
  Nate: You know the sound doctrine needs to shape how we think and really our whole outlook on the world.
• 9:41
  Nate: You know our worldview, which I think is going to be another episode here in a couple of episodes, so we won't get too much into that right now.
• 9:50
  Nate: But what other kind of images do we see in scripture?
• 9:53
  Nate: But what?
• 9:53
  Luis: other kind of images do we see in Scripture Lewis?
• 9:56
  Luis: So in Ephesians 4.12, paul here is painting the idea of being the equipper, so training parents and leaders.
• 10:02
  Luis: And so the church isn't just a place for learning, it's a training ground for action, right?
• 10:08
  Luis: So when we go to church we are being trained.
• 10:12
  Luis: In fact, I'm reading a book right now by Paul Tripp, called Lead, that talks about how oftentimes in ministry, leaders in ministry, we lose sight of needing to be trained ourselves.
• 10:26
  Luis: And so if I'm training in ministry and I'm going to seminary and I'm learning all these things, that's great and I'm being educated, I'm learning everything I need to learn.
• 10:38
  Luis: But if I'm not training to use it for action, it becomes pointless.
• 10:43
  Luis: And so the same way for our families and our students.
• 10:47
  Luis: Think of it like a gym.
• 10:48
  Luis: You don't just go to the gym to watch people exercise.
• 10:51
  Luis: It's a little weird.
• 10:52
  Luis: It would be Now.
• 10:54
  Luis: It would be nice if you could go to the gym and watch somebody work out, and then you reap the benefits.
• 10:58
  Nate: That's right.
• 10:58
  Nate: And then you can go to bonfire as much as you want.
• 11:01
  Nate: That would be great, but that's not how it works, right.
• 11:04
  Luis: We know that when you go to the gym you have to actually put in the work, like you have to get on the treadmill, you have to exercise.
• 11:11
  Luis: Believe it or not, there was a time in my life when I was a bit of a gym junkie.
• 11:15
  Luis: So I was there and I was working out, and so I used to follow a training regimen to lift weights to eat, and if I did it, it produced great results.
• 11:26
  Luis: Like I saw it and people saw it in me.
• 11:28
  Luis: Well, that's what's going to happen in church, right, like when you go to church and you're in a church that's doing everything that we've just described.
• 11:34
  Luis: If it's equipping parents to be the confident spiritual leaders in the home, then you to practice these things, put them into practice.
• 11:56
  Nate: You know you got to pick up those weights.
• 11:57
  Nate: You got to, you got to do the thing and you know not only would you be receiving in a good church you know the teaching and the training, the equipment to use, but then you're also putting it into practice and getting those reps in.
• 12:14
  Nate: To keep our illustration going, you know it's just the more reps you have, the better you are at whatever you're doing.
• 12:18
  Nate: So for us as parents, that's going to be our opportunity to really put in those reps and engage with other believers and disciple each other and even get help when we don't know how to use a certain tool we're trying to use.
• 12:34
  Luis: And I think where you really see the benefits there is when we become active participants in church right, not just sitting on a pew.
• 12:42
  Luis: Yeah, not just sitting on a pew, not just attending Sunday mornings, but becoming a participant and serving and we'll probably get deeper into this at some later podcasts but just the importance of being a participant in a local church, like being a part of a community where you get to do life with, and really that's what we're talking about Not just attending or watching online, but getting in there and working, like if you've ever had to work in a kitchen in a small church, like I mean, that's like that's growth is happening.
• 13:14
  Nate: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 13:15
  Luis: Right, that's right.
• 13:15
  Luis: If you've ever had to put away chairs after a gathering in the fellowship hall like that's what I'm talking about, about being involved and participating in the life of the church.
• 13:25
  Nate: Right, yeah, you get those, the reps, in, you're actually doing the thing.
• 13:29
  Nate: And sometimes we think about discipleship.
• 13:31
  Nate: We think about discipleship, we think about ministry as these big things.
• 13:40
  Nate: And you might be thinking, well, I can't be involved in ministry, I don't preach, I don't teach, I'm not well-spoken, things like that.
• 13:42
  Nate: But I mean, half of ministry is setting up tables and chairs and tearing them back down.
• 13:45
  Nate: There was another youth ministry podcast I used to listen to called Stacking Chairs and it was that idea.
• 14:06
  Luis: 90% of what we do is stacking chairs.
• 14:08
  Luis: So you know, just get into it.
• 14:10
  Luis: I mean, it's statistically proven that a lot of young people when they graduate out of youth ministry they're leaving the church.
• 14:18
  Luis: But here's what LifeWay found is that for the kids who weren't leaving the church because there are some who aren't when they interviewed those kids who aren't leaving the church and who are becoming active, growing thriving Christians in their own adult life, growing thriving Christians in their own adult life what they found is that the common denominator was they had parents who served in the church beyond attending on Sunday morning.
• 14:41
  Luis: So parents, if you're concerned about your kid falling away from the faith, the way that you can help against that is by modeling for your kids active service of participating in their church.
• 14:54
  Luis: So I think it was something like for families that participated in church in one service beyond Sunday morning, like the numbers dropped and then if they participated in like two things beyond Sunday morning, it dropped even further.
• 15:07
  Luis: And so like when families are doing church together in the context of a church, like that's when you're going to see your kids likely stay connected to a church.
• 15:16
  Nate: Wow, yeah, they see that it's important to you, right, and so they're going to pick up that idea that they're not there just to spectate, they're there to be involved.
• 15:25
  Nate: Wow, that's awesome.
• 15:26
  Nate: So we've kind of talked about three different ways.
• 15:29
  Nate: You know the church plays a critical role in helping parents, you know, disciple their children.
• 15:35
  Nate: So let's kind of turn and let's make it real.
• 15:37
  Nate: What are some practical ways a family can actually live these things out?
• 15:42
  Nate: Lewis?
• 15:43
  Luis: Well.
• 15:44
  Luis: So, as we're talking about what families can do, number one I would say is make discipleship a lifestyle, not an event, right?
• 15:54
  Luis: So again, I've said it and you're going to get tired of me saying it, but it's not just about Sunday morning.
• 15:59
  Luis: Like if your church is just about getting up on Sunday mornings and rushing to get to church, like that's not where it's going to happen.
• 16:06
  Luis: Don't let spiritual growth be confined to a Sunday sermon or, in a lot of cases, to what your church is doing in children's church.
• 16:15
  Luis: Make it a part of your everyday life and we talked about that in a previous podcast.
• 16:21
  Luis: Right, right, yeah, but at dinner, in the car, before going to bed.
• 16:24
  Luis: Model it in your own life.
• 16:26
  Nate: That's the Deuteronomy 6 concept, right as you go about the way.
• 16:30
  Luis: Read together, pray together, disciple your children, because small habits are going to become lifelong legacies for you.
• 16:38
  Nate: Yeah, even things of just like having devotions together.
• 16:42
  Nate: There's a tool and I think I forgot to mention it on that family podcast we had last episode but the tool that my family has used is the Word of Life, quiet Time, word of and, um, they, they partner with churches because they recognize the church is the central, um, you know, it's the body of Christ, right, that's where the ministry happens.
• 17:03
  Nate: And so, um, they, they have this quiet time booklet that they have across all different age groups and it's awesome to see like the youth group will be using it, and so all of the teens are reading the same passage the same day, but then the youth leaders are too, and then that goes all the way down into you know, five-year-old, to even have a little coloring sheet based on the verses that they're reading.
• 17:23
  Nate: And just being able to do something like that, where you're reading the same passage every day, is just amazing, you know, and my parents did that with me and now I'm doing it with my kids, and it's amazing what that will do, just taking it beyond the Sunday morning.
• 17:37
  Luis: Yeah, and I think another way to take it beyond the Sunday morning.
• 17:39
  Luis: A practical step here for families is to invest in intergenerational relationships.
• 17:45
  Luis: Right, because faith grows in community, not in isolation.
• 17:49
  Luis: And so if you're an older listener, let me encourage you, step up and pour into younger families.
• 17:55
  Luis: If you're a grandma, if you're a granddad, if you're just an older member of your church, seek out young families, find that mom or dad who are expecting their first child, and find a way to pour into them.
• 18:07
  Luis: Or, if you're a young parent, seek out older members of your church and ask for wisdom, because you're just figuring this out for the first time, like if, like you know, when you're a parent for the first time, you're making it up as as you go, and foster mentorship and accountability within your church.
• 18:28
  Luis: So find ways for your church to foster that mentorship, to foster that accountability, to help raise stronger families and deeper faith.
• 18:36
  Luis: Like I think about my own girls in the church that I pastored for several years, there were a few ladies that were older, ladies in their 60s, 70s and some in their 80s, that when my little girls were little like, they sat with them in the nursery and my daughters came to love them Like they, they came to love them.
• 18:54
  Luis: They came to to seek them out to sit in their laps and I can tell you like that meant a lot to those ladies.
• 19:00
  Luis: But what they'll never understand is what it meant to me and Brandy to have these older women in the lives of my daughters that were keeping them safe while I was preaching, while I was putting chairs away, while Brandy was working in the kitchen.
• 19:12
  Nate: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great because, um, you know, just being able to see that, you know that's where you can find those people, so you may be putting you on the spot, but, you know, as a, as a young parent, somebody might be, you know, listening to this, thinking, well, how can I like, okay, church?
• 19:27
  Nate: But there's a lot of people in my church Like how do I find somebody that's going to be older, like do I need to look for one of those grandmas, the grandparents you know, or or can it be somebody younger who's just another step ahead of me?
• 19:40
  Nate: Like, how, how would that work in a church?
• 19:42
  Luis: I think it can be both you know, and and actually my heart goes out to those older widows because like they're lonely, right they're.
• 19:50
  Luis: A lot of times their husbands are deceased, maybe their children have moved away, yeah.
• 19:55
  Luis: And so one way that I would start is maybe the next time you're in church, find that older lady who sits by herself, or find that group of ladies that is just kind of off by themselves and maybe find a way to connect with them, because, man, it's going to be impactful for them to have a young person in their life.
• 20:14
  Luis: But maybe you don't have a lot of older people, maybe it's just finding that mom or dad who are a stage ahead of you.
• 20:20
  Luis: So, like I've got teenagers right now and you know, maybe somebody in our church who has a preteen or somebody who's seven or eight, like that'd be a great family to connect with, because I'm going through the teenage years, I'm figuring it out for the first time, but I can pour into them.
• 20:35
  Nate: And you're not that far removed from what they're in, so it's not like culture has changed dramatically in five years.
• 20:43
  Luis: Yeah.
• 20:44
  Nate: That's awesome.
• 20:45
  Nate: I think kind of the next thing would be you yourself as a parent, you know, just hold on to the truth and and proclaim it boldly and unapologetically.
• 20:56
  Nate: You know you hopefully your pastor's doing that from the pulpit, your youth pastors you know from their, their platforms that they have.
• 21:02
  Nate: But you as a parent, like, don't back down just because you know your kids are seeing somebody else say something contrary to scripture on TikTok.
• 21:11
  Nate: You know it's hold on to what you know to be true and stand firm on the truth.
• 21:17
  Nate: We can't really afford to be passive at this point.
• 21:22
  Nate: We've got to go on the offensive and take issues that are being talked about and really work through them based on what we see as the truth of scripture.
• 21:33
  Nate: And so you know that means you've got to be in a church that teaches sound doctrine.
• 21:37
  Nate: But also you yourself have to be in the word so that you can use the opportunities that come up and speak the truth to your children.
• 21:45
  Luis: Nate, I know we've said this a lot of times already.
• 21:47
  Luis: You know about our culture, disciples, our kids.
• 21:49
  Luis: I don't know if you watch the Super Bowl.
• 21:51
  Luis: I know you're not a football guy.
• 21:52
  Luis: I'm not a football guy.
• 21:53
  Luis: Hopefully you watch Super Bowl, or maybe you've heard about the Super Bowl.
• 21:57
  Luis: I thought I was pretty hip for the times.
• 22:00
  Luis: I thought I was pretty relevant.
• 22:02
  Luis: I try to keep up with what's going on, but when the halftime show came on and this guy named Kendrick Lamar was performing, I was like who is this guy?
• 22:10
  Nate: like I had no idea I didn't even know that that's who did the halftime show.
• 22:14
  Nate: Well, I don't.
• 22:15
  Nate: I did know what the super bowl was, though you knew what I do, know what the super do you know who kendrick lamar is?
• 22:19
  Nate: Have no clue.
• 22:20
  Luis: No either, right.
• 22:20
  Luis: So then I'm watching this halftime show and I'm listening to my daughter's talk and, um, like I didn't realize that they even knew who kendrick Lamar was.
• 22:29
  Luis: I mean, obviously he's a mainstream rapper, right.
• 22:33
  Luis: And so I started looking it up.
• 22:35
  Luis: And then I started seeing on social media people were torn.
• 22:40
  Luis: It was a great performance, it was a terrible performance and I had no idea.
• 22:43
  Luis: I didn't think it was good or bad, I just was indifferent to it.
• 22:47
  Luis: It wasn't for me.
• 22:48
  Luis: But then I started seeing some commentary, some social commentary, about how the songs that he sang played to a particular audience.
• 22:57
  Luis: Apparently he has beef with another guy named Drake.
• 23:01
  Luis: I've heard of Drake, but I don't know what the beef was.
• 23:04
  Luis: So, like, this isn't going to resonate with you, nate.
• 23:06
  Nate: No, it's not.
• 23:07
  Luis: But the way that I grew up right like the beef that I'm used to, was like Tupac and Biggie right.
• 23:11
  Luis: That doesn't mean anything to you, but I know there's going to be some parents that are listening to this.
• 23:16
  Luis: They got it, that are going to understand, like Tupac Biggie, and so like I had to go and seek out stuff to understand, like okay, because my daughter, talking about how Kendrick Lamar apparently he like dissed Drake in one of the songs songs and one of the people that came out in dance was like drake's old girlfriend, and so like all of this commentary is happening and I'm having to like figure it out and we're actually going to a podcast later on where we're going to talk about some of the resources and tools right to navigate yeah, yeah but like parents, like if you're listening to this, like that's why we have to teach truth boldly and apologetically, that's why you have to be in a church that's doing those things, because your kids, believe it or not, I mean, are keeping up with social commentary that we have no idea about.
• 24:01
  Nate: Yeah, and the church is going to provide the resources to help you think through and work through those things, because that's where the younger listeners can support some of the older ones.
• 24:10
  Nate: The younger listeners can support some of the older ones.
• 24:13
  Nate: The older ones have the wisdom, but the younger ones are kind of more in the know with the newest things that are coming at them.
• 24:18
  Nate: And so if we work together as a team, right, the body of Christ, then we can put together the strengths of the younger generation and the older generation to deal with these issues head on, built on the foundation of truth.
• 24:32
  Nate: So that's great.
• 24:34
  Nate: And I think kind of the last thing that we would take away from this is partner don't replace right.
• 24:39
  Nate: We've said it multiple times.
• 24:40
  Nate: You know you're not outsourcing discipleship Parents.
• 24:44
  Nate: You are the primary disciple makers.
• 24:46
  Nate: But you have to partner with the youth pastors, the pastors, the youth leaders, the children's workers, all of these people in the church who can help you.
• 24:55
  Nate: And it's got to be that teamwork together, just like we just talked about.
• 24:59
  Nate: It's a partnership.
• 25:01
  Nate: You've got to be on the same team, working in the same direction.
• 25:03
  Nate: You can't just be on the sidelines watching the game play out, because then that's when you're going to have the best results, with the parents and the church working together.
• 25:15
  Luis: And I think, just remember here, parents, right.
• 25:17
  Luis: So take one step this week.
• 25:19
  Luis: I know we've dumped a lot on you here, but take one step this week and look for ways to build a stronger connection between your church and your family discipleship at home, between your church and your family discipleship at home.
• 25:34
  Luis: Pick one of these things that we just talked about and find a way to build it in a stronger way this week.
• 25:38
  Luis: Because here's the truth Parenting is hard, yeah, it is, but you're not alone and thankfully, god has entrusted you with your children for a reason Like he chose you to be the dad of your two girls, in the same way that he chose me to be dad for my girls.
• 25:57
  Luis: And our role and parents your role is as the primary disciple maker is of eternal significance.
• 26:07
  Luis: Oftentimes I think about my children.
• 26:09
  Luis: I want to make sure that, when I get to heaven, that I've prepared a way for my children to be there with me one day, and I don't want to get into the whole theological aspect of what that looks like, but I want to make sure that I do everything I can as a parent to make sure that my daughters are ready to meet Christ when that time comes, and it goes way beyond sports, academics or achievements, and so imagine what would happen if every church committed to these four things that we just discussed, and if every parent committed to them.
• 26:45
  Luis: Imagine families that are on fire for Christ.
• 26:48
  Luis: That'd be awesome.
• 26:49
  Luis: Imagine children growing up grounded in biblical truth so that when they're wrestling with the social commentary on the issue between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, they can respond to that from a biblical worldview.
• 27:03
  Luis: Right yeah, imagine churches that are filled with believers, young and old, who are strong in their faith, who are bold in truth and who are united in their discipleship, and you have intergenerational discipleship happening.
• 27:18
  Nate: Man.
• 27:19
  Nate: That would be awesome and I would love to be a part of a church like that.
• 27:22
  Nate: And our churches are not perfect, right, because they're filled with imperfect people.
• 27:26
  Nate: But if we do what we can to be a part of it, then we can continue to improve and bring God the glory from the work that he's doing in and through our families and our churches.
• 27:37
  Nate: So, parents, I hope you enjoyed this, so be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss our next episode, where we're going to dive into kind of the third element of this triad here of the family church, and we're going to hit the school next how Christian schools can effectively support parents and churches in discipling students.
• 27:58
  Nate: If you've got anybody else that would benefit from this, please share this with them, send it to them so that they can learn and grow right along with you.
• 28:07
  Nate: And if you've got any questions or comments or any feedback you'd love to get us, we'd love to hear from it.
• 28:12
  Nate: You can go ahead and send an email to podcast at waynechristianorg.
• 28:17
  Nate: That's our email address here at the podcast, so you can send it to podcast at waynechristianorg.
• 28:23
  Nate: But thanks for joining us today.
• 28:25
  Nate: Until next time, keep leading the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence the world for Christ.