Peter Witkowski Children's Ministry

Why Do Families Skip Church?

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Why do families skip church on Sunday? Why is our Sunday school attendance going down? Why do kids stop coming to our Wednesday night programs? There are all kinds of answers to these questions. We can blame our kids’ sports league, Netflix, social media, the low price of gas, and a the weather.

But what about us? What about our churches, our programs, and our kids’ activities? Is it possible that the problem is not out there but in here?  Is it possible that people no longer view church as a priority because we, the church, are longer offering anything compelling? It’s possible.

People Centered?

Now before I go further, I want to hedge off one concern.  I am not advocating for Christian consumerism. I am not advocating for hanging lights, creating crazy worship sets, and installing bouncy houses so that our churches will begin to resemble Disney World. We do not need to appeal to sinners via their sinful flesh. As James McDonald said in his book, Vertical Church:

If you build your church on celebrity guests and circus chicanery of all sorts, you will attract the kind of people who want shallow service and grow them into snotty-nosed, high-demand, never-satisfied “disciples.”

What About The Glory?

We need to offer something much, much greater. We need to point people to God. Specifically, we need to call people to worship the one true God. What is true worship?   “Worship is the magnification of God and the minimization of self.” Christ came so that he might be glorified through us. As John 1:14 reports:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The church exists to glorify the savior of the world. We exist to help people (even kids) to escape their selfish hearts by making much of God. As Paul David Tripp writes,

Children’s Ministry must have as its goal to ignite in young children a life-shaping awe of God.

And when adults, youth, and kids interact with the glory of God, hearts change, lives become altered, and the kingdom grows. Our goal as leaders, teachers, and ambassadors in the church should be to introduce our families to the majesty and the glory of God. We exist to promote the awe of God through worship.

What About Us?

Is this happening in our church? Do people regularly walk into our buildings and experience the glory and the majesty of God? Or is the height of their church experience a few cool crafts, a warm handshake, and a casual conversation about the latest football game?  If our church is nothing more than a religious, social event, our people can easily skip it. But if our church is a venue through which people corporately experience the wonder of the one true God, our people will come. God’s glory and majesty is infinitely more compelling than any program we can think of. Every ministry in our church should be exist to connect people to God through worship. Are we doing this? Are we connecting people to God?

Peter Witkowski Book Reviews

3 Tips For For Finding The Next Great Christian Resource!

booksHave there ever been so many Christian Books in print as now? I think not. Seemingly every day a new book, Bible study, and or instructional video is released with the seemingly magical ability to make Christendom great again. Read this, and you will be the best parent ever. Try this plan, and your besetting sin will disappear. Watch this…and well…your life will be better than ever before. And all these pleas connect with our hearts because we all want to grow closer to Christ. We all have spiritual battles. But at the end of the day, not all resources are created equal. And given the fact that few of us can devote large portions of our days to reading and studying, we do not want to squander our precious time on bad books. To determine which resources in your Christian bookstore are spiritual fool’s gold and which contain lasting truth, I encourage ask the follow three questions:

Who Published It?

Who published the book can tell you a lot about the book’s author. Obviously, all513cwpcnmjl-_sx340_bo1204203200_publishers want to sell you their books, curriculums, etc. (Hence all the marketing that often makes picking the right resources very difficult.) If an author’s books fly off the shelves, everyone wants to publish their materials. But with that being said, publishers often still have some convictions and guiding principles that narrow down their list of potential authors.

Publishers will only publish authors who reflect their view(s) of the world. For example, B&H Publishing (the publishing wing of LifeWay) and Crossway Publishing (They produce the ESV Bibles) and P&R Publishers (They publish many fantastic  theology books) make it a point to publish resources that are based on a literal and inerrant reading of the Scriptures. Publishers such as Zondervan and Tommy Nelson are a little freer with who they publish. For example, Tommy Nelson publishes books by Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz) and commentaries by Dr. Thomas Schreiner (which are sound theologically and academically). And other publishers like, Faith Words –  who puts out all the Joel Osteen materials –  should simply be avoided. #FoolsGold anyone?

At the end of the day, seeing who publishes a book will not tell you everything you need to know. But it is a great starting point. Check on the publisher.

Who Endorsed It?

vertical-churchNow as a noted above, some publishers publish both good and bad authors. Just discovering who the publisher is not a fool proof. You need to explore a little more. You need to check the endorsements. If another author that you know and trust endorses the book, then you can be pretty sure the book is good. (At the very least your confidence in the book should be as great as your confidence in the one endorsing it.) If you are like me, you probably will not recognize all the names on the back of the book. I recently read Vertical Church by James McDonald (I highly recommend it). Thirty-seven people endorsed the book! The publishers want to get a wide variety of endorsements on their publication so that they can market it to the largest Christian demographic possible. That being said, do not worry about why some Anglican pastor you never heard of endorsed the book in your hand. If Dr. Albert Mohler, John MacArthur, and Paul David Tripp also endorsed that same book, it is probably one really good resources. If you don’t know any of the endorsers, that’s probably not a good sign.

Endorsements are never forced or fabricated. For example, the evangelist Greg Laurie once stretched the truth by saying John MacArthur endorsed his ministry. MacArthur quickly forced Laurie to retract the claim and to change his materials. Endorsements matter and are guarded closely by those who give them. Before you start flipping through the table of contents, check the endorsements. If people you trust stand by a publication or program, you can trust those resources. Check the endorsements.

Does Your Pastor Like It?

41gy-dowwdl-_sx313_bo1204203200_If you want to skip steps one and two, go straight to your pastor(s) and/or elder(s). Ask them, “who are your favorite authors?” Ask them to recommend books and resources that will help you.

Do not worry about bothering them. This is part of their job. They are called to lead and shepherd you, in-part by getting good resources into your hands and by protecting you from wolves in sheep’s clothing. Ask them for help! Most will love to direct you to great resources.

As a young college student, I knew I could trust C.S. Lewis, Francis Shaffer, and John Macarthur. But I did not have a clue about the other 99% of Christian literature filling the shelves of our local books stores. Thankfully, the pastors at the Bible Church of Little Rock did a great job of exposing me and that church to a host of godly authors. While at the Bible Church, I was introduced to J. I. Packer, C.J. Mahaney, John Piper, Ed Welch, Bruce Ware, Joel Beeke, and Don Whitney to name a few. I was given a solid foundation from which I could build my personal library. I hope and pray your pastors can and will do the same for you.

But if your pastor shirks this duty, I encourage you to fall back on points 1 and 2.

Alright, are you ready to pick out your next book?

Peter Witkowski Apologetics

What Do We Tell Our Kids After The Election?

flag-1Are you ready for tomorrow?  The hours of yucky campaign commercials, snarky Facebook posts, and embarrassing debates will be at an end! Hallelujah! On November 9, 2016, the United States of America will have a new president elect. But once all the dust settles, we will have to face a new question, “What do we do now?” How do we help our kids (who must certainly have heard us discuss politics over the last few days) process the electoral votes and the state of the nation?

America Is Not Our Hope

Many evangelical Christian including yours truly have been rightly dismayed and discouraged by this election. Not only have we lost the power or the moral majority, we have lost the power to significant influence the primary process. Today’s politicians do not even have to pretend to be devoutly religious. They can get away with their lack of zeal because America is no longer a Christian nation. According to a new study by George Barna, only 36% of Americans attended a church service this week and just 2% read their Bibles. And the projections do not have those numbers going up anytime soon. We cannot expect our neighbors to support our Christian worldview or to vote according to our values. Most Americans do not even know what we Christians believe. The Americang government will not be our main agent of change. But then again it was never meant to be. We are called to be ambassadors on earth. We belong to the heavenly kingdom and appeal to the king who changes hearts.

At the end of the day, we are not supposed to boast about America. We are to boast in the goodness of our God who redeems and sanctifies the lost. As Psalm 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” Its good and proper to thank God for our nation. But it is even better to thank God for being God. Tomorrow morning, remind your kids that God is your hope. Remind them that life is ok because our boast, our hope, our comfort is the Lord of heaven. America is not our hope.

 

We Will Stand For Truth

Regardless of who you voted for and who wins the presidency, Christians will need to have a prophetic voice. We must continue to speak for the unborn, to champion justice for all, and to protect the innocent and weak. We must show our kids that more money in our bank account does mean when can ignore discrimination and innocent children being murdered. Where the gospel speaks to social and political issues, we must speak to them even if that will put us sideways from our candidate of choice. We cannot condone sin because our politic parties calls evil good (Isa. 5:20).  If we want our kids to value our Biblical values, we must remain consistent. We must avoid the temptation to be a hypocrite for political gain. We speak boldly for the gospel at all times.

 And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. – Luke 12:8

We must stand for the truth of the Bible regardless of the earthly cost.

 

We Trust God

Regardless who gets the most votes tomorrow, God picked them. God in his sovereign plan, appointed our next president. We may not like him or her. We may have grave reservations about their platform. But we know God reigns. And we know that only the presidents, kings, and dictators God picks come to power. And even more importantly, we know, “that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28).

Regardless what are next president does, it will be good for God’s people. I am not saying that bad economic policies that lead to poverty or rash decisions that lead to world war are a good thing. They most certainly are not. But whatever happens over the next four years, God will be working to grow our faith and his church.
And if we are trusting God, we have no votereason to attack our opponents. Those who voted for Hillary, Trump, or that wonderful third party candidate are not the devil. We do not need to tear down, lambast, or cascate our brothers and sisters in Christ for contributing to an outcome that we disapprove of. If we trust God, we can handle both defeat and victory knowing that God rules and directs heart. Our anger over the vote totals do not reflect a concern, they reflect pride. We thought we knew what outcome is best and we are mad that God did not give it to us. So instead of trusting God, we lash out at our oppoents. Avoid this pitfall. Speak well of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

If we trust God, we will come to 2020 with an even closer relationship with Jesus. Brothers and Sisters, let’s not cry in front of our kids or predict doom because of this year’s election results. Let’s point our hearts and the hearts of our kids to the God who is worthy of our trust. Let’s boast in the fact that God reigns and will one-day return and rule the world.  As Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Do not fret over President Trump or President Hillary. They cannot do lasting harm to our souls. Rather pray for them, asking God to use them in such a way that his church grows (I Timothy 2:2). Trust God!

 

Ok, now its your turn. What will you tell your kids tomorrow?