We looked at the last of those three yesterday and stressed the importance from Matthew 28:18-20 of us as the church making sure our lives produce passionate followers of Jesus Christ from among all the nations of the world. We discussed all that is involved in making disciples and one point that I stressed was how and where we do this--making of disciples.
I mentioned that we have the opportunity to make disciples every day in our homes as parents with our children. I read the quote from Pastor David Horner from the recent reThink conference on Youth ministry. Pastor Horner commented, "We cannot expect our ministry to rise to a level outside the home beyond what it has inside the home." The extent that we are making disciples of all nations--in our community and around the world--is directly tied to how hard we are working to make disciples in our own homes.
I didn't have time to share another quote from Puritan pastor Richard Baxter. His comments demonstrate that the quote/idea by Pastor Horner is not a radical idea. Rather it is an old and biblical idea that has just not been tried.
"We must also have a special care for families to see that they are well-ordered and that each performs its duties. For the life of religion, and the welfare and glory of the church and state, depend much on family government and duty. If we neglect this we will undo all. How can we see to the revival of a whole congregation if all the work is cast upon the pastor alone? Of if the heads of families neglect their responsibilities, what will be the extent of a church awakening?
"If any good is begun by the pastoral ministry, it will be stopped—or at least hindered—if the family is careless, prayerless, and worldly. But if you get the heads of families to do their part, to take up the work where you have left off, and then finally to help it on, what an abundance of good might be done! So I urge you to see the importance of family cooperation in your ministry."
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