"4/14 Window Summit" in Cameroon

My 13 year old daughter, Laura, and I just returned from a two week trip to Cameroon. We went with a team of people to launch the vision of the 4/14 Window movement in that country. We partnered with Silas Nfor and a steering committee of Cameroon children's ministry leaders.

The 4/14 Window is a missions strategy to focus on a demographic season of life comprising the years between 4 and 14. This is the time in a person's life when they are most receptive to the gospel of Christ. Research data shows that 85% of those who become Christians do so between the ages of 4 and 14.

On January 4-5, 2010 we launched the 4/14 Window Summit in Bamenda, Cameroon. The purpose of the summit was to bring the vision of the 4/14 Global Movement to church leaders in Cameroon. Eighty leaders representing 25 churches and ministries gathered to hear about this new global mission strategy. Ten people gave presentations on the importance of the 4/14 Window and strategies to raise up a new generation to transform the world.

Worship Christ as Lord during this Christmas Season!

This morning I pulled a book off the top shelf of the bookcase to look at it again after many years. This is a special book. I gave it to John, my husband, several years ago when we started thinking about having family worship. It's entitled: "Daily Family devotion; or, Guide to Family Worship" by the Rev. John Cumming and was published in Edinburgh, Scotland around 1700. Many years ago (about 20) we asked our friend and pastor, Scott McAlpine, who is from Scotland and now pastors a church in Washington, DC, to bring us a book like this when he took a trip to Scotland. We have treasured it ever since.

Inside the book, W. Lindsay Alexander writes an introduction which reminds us of the importance of family worship. Here is an excerpt:

The institution of family religion has come down to us from the remotest
antiquity, invested with the highest sanction, and recommended by the noblest
examples. The first social worship in our world was family worship. When the
progenitors of our race gathered around the altar hard by the gates of lost
Paradise, it was as a family group that they assembled: and though error and
ungodliness too soon introduced schism into their little society, and set up a
rival altar to that at which they worshipped, yet in the line in which the
primeval revelation was preserved, the worship of the true God by devotion and
sacrifice was followed, and the father still officiate as the priest and
minister of his household.

Abraham, the friend of God, content to dwell in tents, and to lead a nomade life, that he might show that he sought not an earthly settlement, but a heavenly inheritance, was careful, wherever he pitched his tent for any protracted stay, to build there an altar, that he might call on the name of the Lord. His example in this respect was followed by his son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob. And that in thus providing for the worship of God they sought not merely their own spiritual benefit, but were solicitous also for that of their households, is evident from ceretain statement in the brief record of their history.

More on this tomorrow.......

Family Education - Hebrew or American?

Families today hear a lot about the importance of shaping and discipling the next generation. Along with that envisioning we have a lot of tools and resources to equip families to disciple their children. But there still seems to be inactivity on the part of Christian parents. Why? We realize that parents have a great potential in developing spiritual strong young people.

Could it be there we are not basing our ministry in the home to raise up disciples on a holistic model? One that involves the spiritual, relational, experiential and instructional dynamics of transformation.

Let's learn from the ancient Jewish education. These lessos may help us fram the nurturing in our own families. The practices of the Jewish home show a holistic process of transformation. According to Edward Hayes in his book, The Biblical Foundation of Christian Education, "The relgious rites of Hebrew people were occasions for pedagogy. Household ritual provoked wonder, reverence, and joy, as well as questions." Parents should strive to intentionally set spiritual goals and think about a holistic process to disciple their children to know and love God.

Ancient Jewish families viewed the "extended family" when they defined the term family. Today, how can we think more creatively about inter-generational people building?

In ancient Jewish homes, all generations were learning together. Life together, conversations, working together and eating together were more prevalent in Jewish homes. It's pretty hard to have conversations when we rise up (referring to Deuteronomy 6) and laong the road when we are too busy or when we don't have a plan.

So what does this mean to us today as we discern our responsibility as parents to train and disciple children?

Can Parents Teach Their Children about God?

With Internet, TV, sports, school activities, friends, music lessons, and family, kids' lives today are pretty crowded. A survey done by the Barna Research Group (May 2003) revealed that 85 percent of parents of children under age 13 believe they have the primary responsiblity for teaching their children about religious beliefs and spiritual matters, and 96 percent believe it's their job to teach their children values.

But, "Related research revealed that a majority of parents do not spend any time during a typical week discussing religious matters or studying religious materials with their children" (Barna Research Online).

Clearly, the church has a role to play in the spiritual nurture of children but is it playing a role that effectively equips parents to fullfill their responsibility to train up their own children?

I'm chewing on the morsel of a proverb;

I'll let you in on the sweet old truths,

stories we heard from our fathers,

counsel we learned at our mother's knee.

We're not keeping this to ourselves,

we're passing it along to the next generation -

God's fame and fortune,

the marvelous things he has done.

He planted a witness in Jacob,

set his Word firmly in Israel,

then commanded our parents

to teach it to their children

so the next generation would know,

and all the generations to come -

know the truth and tell the stories

so their children can trust in God,

never forget the works of God

but keep his commands to the letter.

- Psalm 78:2-7, The Message

Families Today

I've been spending a lot more time around high school kids lately. Recently, I asked a group of students about their family situations. I was struck by how many of them said they lived with Mom. Some with Dad. Some with neither. They used terms like divorce, separation, abondonment. Sadly, this is more typical of families today. This shift in family patterns is causing a lot of heartaches, pain, uncertainties, difficulties as children grow into adults.

As Walt Mueller of CPYU says: Alot of homes have become a war zone with parents not speaking to one another and siblings taking out the emotional stress on another. I am hearing more and more that teens really want healthy relationships. An older adult to talk with and share their struggles. One expert says that "relational deprivation" is one of marks of today's emerging generation. Our children and teens were created to be in relationship. Humanly speaking, the primary relationship for which they were made is one with dad and mom. today's teenagers desire real relationships that are characterized by depth, vulnerability, openness, listening and love - connectedness in their disconnected, confusing and alientated word."

Broken relationships lead to deep brokenness. Deep brokenness responds to relationship. What will we - parents, the church - do about it?

Building Christ in Kids in the Midst of Life

Last night after dinner every member of our family plus our chocolate lab grabbed a rake and went outside. The leaves are almost all down in the front yard and they are beginning to pile high. As we were raking I asked my youngest daughter about how her mentoring session went that afternoon with her new mentor. So as we were raking and talking she told me that they discussed school issues, stuff with friends and what a mentoring relationship "looks like". I asked her what she understands her mentoring relationship will be like and she told me: "Mentoring is a relationship where a someone older and wiser helps me grow in my relatioship with Christ."

Yes! This is the stuff of life and how we build our kids to know and love God! It is both intentional AND part of our lifestyle! As a parent, I am thinking intentionally about building up my child into the image of Christ, talking with her about her relatioship with her mentor, encourage her. This is simple. It's not hard stuff and not an add-on program. It's within everyday life chores and activities that we disciple our kids.

Go Be a Yellow Daisy!

Yesterday, I had lunch with a close friend to pray with her and swap stories of what God is doing in our lives. She was my prayer and accoutability partner several years ago. She is such an encouragement to me because she remembers some of the things I struggled with years ago and remembered to ask me about them yesterday.

Recently, she transferred her girls from a Christian school to the public middle school. She has been helping her daughters realize that they are followers of Jesus and should reflect His image at school and when they are with their friends. One day this point was perfectly illustrated when she sent one daughter out to her garden to pick flowers for their dinner table. The girl went to the white daisies but was quickly attracted to the one yellow daisy among all the white ones. She picked the yellow daisy and brought it to her mother. My friend was surprised to see the yellow flower and asked her why she picked that one when there were a whole bunch of white ones. "Because I was attracted to it. The yellow one stuck out from the others." My friend used this opportunity to talk to her daughter about the fact that as a follower of Jesus we should "stick out" among others so that the world would be attracted to us and want to know more about the One we follow.

What a great example of a parent teaching truth to her child!