Peter Witkowski Discipleship

Tweet, Post, Snap and Click for Jesus

[Websites are] now the first place a prospective guest visits when he or she is thinking about attending a church. – Rainer

your church needs social media

Its Here

Now some of you may be thinking, “Woo hoo…social media, website, Twitter; what’s the big deal?” I get it. I’ve been there too until recently. I still have yet to jump aboard the instagram bandwagon. The advancement of technology is real. And if our churches hope to avoid fuddyduddiness, we will have to embrace cyberspace.

Cyberspace Limits 

Now before I go on about the positives, let me address some of the limitations of social media. Technology does not save or improve the message of the gospel. Yes, the world of Facebook is helpful tool for sharing ideas, schedules, and content in quick and direct way. But a website, a Twitter Twitter Iconhashtag, and a Instagram account will not in-and-of themselves bring someone to Jesus. Salvation, discipleship, and worship are all still tied to local churches filled with real people. The web cannot replace the human relationships.  So then, why worry about websites and social media? Because as the president of Lifeway reminds us:

We miss opportunities to minister and share the gospel when we neglect social media. – Rainer

Why Connect

We should warmly embrace modern media because it’s where people live. Increasing numbers of Americans are married to their smartphones. As they embrace Facebook, Facebook IconTwitter and Google, Americans are abandoning newspaper and magazine in record numbers; and books – well they’re just plain long; they don’t even think about church bulletins. Most everyone wants information that we can interact with now. Not surprisingly the two biggest sources of news in 2014 are Facebook and Google.  And Fifty-five percent of Millennials (those born between 1980-1990) are making life decisions based on the websites and blogs (Rainer, 2011, p. 199). If we hope to reach twenty-first century families, our churches have to speak their language: the language of Facebook, websites, and blogs. As one former tech mogul notes:   

The Internet is now becoming the funnel into the church. If you are not using the Internet to conduct real ministry, then you don’t exist to the current generation of seekers—two million daily! – Wilson

Today, I am excited to report that FBCE will begin speaking the language of the twenty-first century more clearly. We will be launching a new website hoping to better connect with Eastman. I pray that FBCE’s improved web presence will help facilitate discussions, promote prayer, provide encouragement, welcome visitors, and display the gospel to Dodge County and the world. I invite you to check-out our new site. Good, bad, or ugly, feel free to let us know what you think of it.   

First Baptist Church Eastman Logo

Works Cited

Rainer, T. J. (2011). The Millenials: Connecting To America’s Largest Generation. Nashville: B&H

Peter Witkowski Discipleship, Pain & Suffering, Parenting

When Things Go Bad

SalvationSeries_WhenThingsGoBad_7With sincerity deeply set inside his eyes, Alex bubbled with excitement as he described God calling him to minister to the internationals our youth group had been serving the past ten days. As we reflected upon our time spent in VBS and building projects, Alex seemed to be only a brief four year stint in college away from becoming a sold out missionary. As we all came down from our spiritual high, Alex took off for college. He never returned to church. Instead of missions, he embraced a life of sexual exploits and familial chaos.

Up to this moment, our discussion of salvation, baptism, and parental responsibility has assumed a positive outcome. Namely, all of our discussions assume that our children will get saved. And though salvation is the goal of godly parenting, it’s not the guaranteed outcome. We don’t simply push ABC and get S. Regardless of how hard we try, we cannot manipulate God into saving our children or friends via our good works. God must save.

And often God does not. Study after study has shown that Alex’s story is increasingly representative of the Millennial Generation. More than half of the children born during the 1980’s and early 1990’s to Christian parents have left the church (Ham, Beemer, & Hillard, p. 25). Now, we are asking, “What do we do when things go wrong?”

 Admittedly, I have only recently been granted full access into the parenting club. I cannot speak to this issue as a parent. Rather, I address the topic as a fellow believer who has been given several opportunities to minister to those who have rejected the gospel for sin. If you are looking for wisdom from those who have ministered to a rebellious child, I highly recommend the book, When Good Kids Make Bad Choices, by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jim Newheiser. Without further ado, let’s look at how to handle the realities of unbelief.

Don’t Ignore Reality  

Perhaps the hardest thing for families and friends of unbelievers to do is to admit these lost souls are lost. Perhaps to avoid this heavy burden of misplaced shame or to excuse our need to loving confront sin, many of us walk around saying that the marijuana crazed son, or the daughter with the live-in boyfriend are still good, God loving people. After all, they used to go to church and they did get baptized. We don’t know what happened. Most likely, they are just a little confused.

Friends, the Bible does not say these souls are confused. It declares them to be unregenerate; they are lost. The apostle John clearly lets us know that “they went out from us, because they were not of us” (I John 2:19) Our children and friends did not leave the church and embrace sin because they are confused Christians. They had a form of religion for a time.  But they left because they never experienced the power of salvation. They may know the Bible but they do not know Christ. The clearest sign of unbelief is open abandonment of the church and the doctrines of grace. The apostle James writes, “Friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (4:4). If your loved one cherishes the sins and philosophies of this  world, they are not saved. There is no faith without obedience.

If we want to see our children and friends embrace Christ, we must clearly, compassionately, and consistently call them sinners. If we do not call them to repentance, we may avoid conflicts and blunt their rejection. But, we will blind them the hope and mercy of God.

Although I know there are many contributing factors to the numbers listed below, I believe Christians who excuse and/or ignore their loved ones sins have unwittingly destroyed the integrity of the Christian faith. Today, 65% of young adults identify themselves Christians. But only 6% of them actually believe in the God of the Bible (Rainer, pp. 232-33). Let’s not excuse a person’s lack of faith and make them a son of hell twice over. Let’s remind our sons, daughters, and friends that they are sinners in need of real, life transformational repentance.

Cling To The Hope of Christ

               I also understand calling your children or friends “sinners” is a heart wrenching task. And watching a loved one reject the faith is discouraging. Yet, we all have hope. Our suffering at the hands of disrespectful teens is not the end of the story. The harsh conversations, the sleepless nights spent questioning our ministry strategies, and the unanswered texts are being used by God to make us into a stronger Christian. I know that no Christian longs for suffering, but the pain caused by our children or friends is for our good. Paul says that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:4-5). If our children or friends have or are in the process of walking away from the faith, take heart.

Hopefully the situation will be for the benefit of our loved one. God often bring us low so that we can see our need to embrace Christ as savior. Think of the parable of the prodigal son. But the family drama is ultimately for our benefit. We will come out a stronger and more complete believer. And yes, it will be difficult, and yes, you may feel like you’ve been pushed to the breaking point. A few pencils may snap and a cell phone maybe thrown against the couch before it’s all said and done. But we will achieve victory through the power of Christ. You and I will survive this hardship because God does not fail! He upholds us; he is the basis of our hope. God has done all of the hard work. Believe on the Lord Jesus. God the Father will be glorified as you daily become more like Christ.

 Get Inspired By God

Remember to love. When God saved us, we were his enemies, destined to be judged forever and condemned to hell. We were completely unlovable. Nothing made us seem attractive to God. Truthfully, we really don’t find each other all that attractive. I doubt any of you would sacrifice your son or daughter so that I could life. And I’m not offended. I would never think of letting either of my two sons die to save you.  Yet, God in his mercy saved us by covering our sins with the blood of his son. This is a radical life altering love that is so huge that it cannot be grasped by our human minds (Eph. 3:19). Oh what love we have felt!  

When we feel tempted to write off our children and friends with a puff of self-righteousness, we need to remember how our heavenly Father loved us. Since God loved us while when we despised him, how can we not show this love to our unrepentant children and friends. I know it’s not an easy task. But we can do it. We must do it. As Christians, we are called to forgive as we have been forgiven (Col 3:13). Even though our biblical advice is rejected, we continue to love these lost souls by encouraging them when they excel at work, by supporting them financially when appropriate, and by always being willing to offer them a kind hug or a soft shoulder. Although we should never directly fund a drug addiction or other sinful habits, we must always be seeking ways to love our children and friends. We are to love them with the love with which Christ has loved us.   

Nothing is Impossible

Often when our family devotion fails or our discipleship program has disappointing results, we tend to think God has failed. Nothing is further from the truth. We may have failed if we inaccurately presented the gospel or if we blunted the power of the gospel by living sinful lives. But God is still at work. Salvation via you and me is impossible, but with God nothing is impossible.

This is not to say that we have a guarantee that God will save every child raised in the church. People often think Proverbs 22:6 is a promise. The verse reads: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Simply teach a kid Jesus and he will get saved. But this cannot be right. If we claim a good discipleship program saves, then we save people through human effort. God said salvation by through human effort was,” impossible” (Mat 19:26).  The verse must mean something else.

The Proverbs are not promises to be claimed. Rather, they are short statements that reflect general Biblical truth about life. Generally speaking those who have been trained in godliness will not depart the faith. And, we do often see God saved children who have believing parents. However, there are exceptions to these general rules. Think of Jehoshaphat’s family. The ancient King brought revival to his kingdom. But, his son did “What was evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Chron. 20-21). Not every child who grows up in a Christian home will become a Christian.

But with God nothing is impossible. Jesus can and does save the lost and dying. Just think of Paul he was actively arresting and having Christians killed. Yet, God saved him. If God can save Paul, he can most certainly save our children and friends. Even in the darkest of hours, hope in God! Plead with him to save your loved one!   

Going Forward

Today the youngest Millennials are finishing junior high.  The window of opportunity to reach this generation through family worship is on the verge of disappearing. But the ability of parents to evangelize and disciple this generation is not coming to an end. Almost 90% of America’s largest generation looks to their parents for guidance and advice (Rainer, p. 55). And 88% of these young adults think their parents are a positive influence (Rainer, p. 245). In other words, adult children value parental guidance. Parents, reaching the next generation for Christ is only a cellphone call, a Skype conversation, or Facebook message away.

The End

As we wrap up the Baptism Class For Parents, I want to return to where I began. Parents, God has given us an unprecedented ability to reach our kids. Whether your child is a wiggly infant or sitting calmly in a cubicle, God wants you to reach them for Christ. Admittedly how we go about reaching our kids depends a great deal on their age and the nature of their heart. But the fundamental principles that underlie our interactions with the next generation remain the same. We pursue Christ with our heart, soul, and mind. Then we share our passion for God with our children via prayer time at the dining room table or a quick text message (Duet. 6:4-9). Certainly, we will make mistakes, misdiagnose our child’s heart, and will struggle at times. But ultimately the salvation of our children doesn’t begin or end with us. God saves. Regardless of where we and our children are, nothing is impossible with God!    

Works Cited

Ham, K., Beemer, B., & Hillard, T. (2012). Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What you can do to Stop it. Green Forest: Master Books .

Rainer, T. S. (211). The Millennials: Connecting To America’s Largest Generation . Nashville: B&H Publishing Group .

 

Peter Witkowski Babies and Birth

Gloomy Churches & The Importance of Being Profamily

Rain CloudsUnlike most 78 year olds caught up in worship wars, Lord Carey believes that churches struggle because they are too old fashion. The former Archbishop of Canterbury understands that young people no longer view church attendance to be a societal norm. Wanting millennials to know and embrace the creator of the universe, Lord Carey is calling for Christians to reach out to the next generation. If they do not reach for the hand the next generation, he warns of disastrous consequences. Lord Carey notes:  “

“We are one generation away from extinction – if we do not invest in young people there is going to be no-one in the future.”

Sadly, this phenomenon has left the shores of England and has swept into American churches with supersonic speed. Answers in Genesis, Lifeway, and the Barna Group have all done studies documenting the growing exodus of young people from evangelical churches. These groups also stumbled across the troubling statistic that most young people decided to leave the church by the time they turn fourteen, believing the Bible to have the relevance of a Greek myth (Ham , Beemer, & Hillard, 2012).

Thankfully, everyone from Tom Rainer, the President of Lifeway, to Phil Vischer, the creator of Veggies Tales, is grabbling with the reality that evangelicals are failing to reach the next generation with the gospel. They and the creative teams at Answers in Genesis and Nav. Press have begun providing parents and Sunday school teachers with wonderful materials such as the “Gospel Project”, “Buck Denver’s What’s In the Bible”, and the “Treasuring Christ Curriculum” –  to name a few. Understanding America’s shift to a secular worldview, evangelical leaders are sensing the need to exchange Christian moralism for biblical evangelism.

Yet, resources can only take the church so far. Churches need teachers. They need adults who are willing to love, reach, and engage the next generation. Sadly, most churches struggle to find to men and women to teach their children.  (Barna, 2003).

Many causes contribute to this dark reality, including a lack of pastoral vision, poor training for volunteers, and poor facilities. I believe that all of these causes stem from one source, the devaluation of children. To avert the coming doom, we must first embrace children in our homes.

When the baby boomers slowly welcomed the ideas of Margret Sanger into the church, they transformed the blessed image children into a burdensome statue. Instead of welcoming children as Christ, many baby boomers followed the example of Jesus’ disciples. They elevated their financial stability and their desire to reinvent motherhood above the value of children. Consequently, Christian boomers used birth control to ensuing that children arrived at a convenient time. (Spontaneous pregnancies became an evil)And then, they employed it again to limit their families to the perfect size of one boy and one girl. They desired a life of easy, wealth, and security. They left behind a legacy of Christian books with dedications to two children and family pet.

Consequently, many millennials, like me, grew up hearing that we should delay having children until our lives pictured the American dream. Most of us were told that college degree, a great job, a house with a white picket fence, and two cars should always proceed the arrival of children. We can remember our parents or their friends saying, “I can’t believe how many kids the Jones have; don’t they know how kids are made; I could never love more than two kids, I was glad that the kids left so I could get back to life; why do you want so many children; you are not getting in younger; oh, my children are so much work; Keeping the nursery is the best type of birth control.” We were taught to view worldly possessions and the acquirement of knowledge as the definition of spiritual blessing. Not surprisingly, we now blog about how our favorite family member, the dog, celebrated its second birthday.

Because the church now consists primarily of two generations shaped by the sexual revolution, church members and their pastors often spend little money, time, or effort on ministering to children. Viewed as a holding area for misfit toys, many baby boomers begrudgingly embraced children’s ministry for brief time. But once their children graduated to the treasured island of youth ministry, many boomers returned to land of grownup ministries, consisting of fellowship and travel.

Like our many of our parents, we millennials see Sunday morning as a time of escape from bothersome little creatures. We never enter the country of children’s ministry because it is just another reminder of all that our children have taken or all that potential children could take from us. We want to corporate worship experience to mimic our family values of ease and education.

Friends if we want to revitalize our churches, we need to start embracing children. We must realize that he who labors for wealth and ease apart from Christ labors in vain. We must apply Psalm 127 to our lives, seeing Children as one of the main definitions of spiritual blessing. We should encourage engaged couples to be open to having a baby before they celebrate their first anniversary. We should celebrate the joys of parenthood (especially motherhood as God uses motherhood as a portal for his redemptive purpose- I Timothy 2:15). Rather than promoting the accumulation of earthly treasures, we should advise couples to prepare budget for birth and/or adoption costs. We should structure our churches to equip couples to be parents. And then we must support couples with children through prayers, hugs, gifts, and the occasional warm meal. We must leave the attitude of the disciples behind and embrace the heart of Christ.

If we and our parents create homes that welcome children, I am confident churches will follow. If we are excited to welcome new babies and grandbabies into our lives, we will be excited to invest in the lives of the babies who attend our churches. Encouraged by a right view of family, we will have a heart for reaching children. And equipped with the relevant and gospel centered resources, we will be able reach this and future generations for Christ.

Let’s not embrace the doom of which Lord Carey warns. Let’s embrace children!

SOURCES:

Barna, G. (2003). Transforming Children Into   Spiritual Champions: Why Children Should be Your Church’s #1 Priority .   Ventura : Regal .

Ham , K., Beemer, B., & Hillard, T. (2012). Already   Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church And What you Can do to Stop it. Green   Forest : Master Books.