Dear Friend,
At Parkside, we baptize individuals upon their profession of faith, and we join our young families as they dedicate their children to the Lord, as well as themselves to the sacred privilege of parenting.
We acknowledge the claim that the child of a Christian home has upon the prayers and service of the church. We recognize that it is the duty of the parents and of the church to walk together so that in years of understanding, the child may come to place their faith in the Lord Jesus.
This is in keeping with Moses’s words to God’s people when he reminded them of the vital importance of passing on the faith to the next generation:
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deut. 6:5–7)
This is particularly relevant given that we are living through what is arguably the most rapid change in family structure in human history. The ferocious onslaught on the Christian view of sex, marriage, and family has not emerged from nowhere. In 1964, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States was set up to deliver sex education in schools. It supported ideas such as merging and reversing sex roles, liberating children from their parents, and abolishing traditional values. Seven years later, the Gay Liberation Front Manifesto took aim against the oppression they attributed to the Christian view of family and marriage, calling it “archaic and irrational.”
The Christian family is, without question, an endangered species. It is one thing for the pressure to come from secular culture; it is a graver danger to find organized Christianity contributing to an agenda that opposes the timeless truth of Scripture.
So what are we to do as a new school year begins? Let’s summon our courage. Let’s affirm our conviction that God is the author of creation. And let’s wrap our children in prayer as it becomes increasingly difficult for them to withstand the pressure to conform. Let’s do what Moses calls us to do as we rest in the sovereignty of God and as we hold fast to the word of faith.
Appropriately, this month we’ve selected two books to help you teach God’s truth to your children.
Surviving Religion 101 is highly recommended for anyone college aged. It’s written to remind your older children what Christians believe and why we believe it. The book is particularly helpful because each chapter gives answers to tough questions about the Christian faith that your student will likely be asked on a college campus.
Bible Stories Every Child Should Know is a terrific introduction to the Bible for the wee ones. It contains over a hundred short stories that teach young children about God’s people, God’s promises, who Jesus is, and why He came.
I hope you’ll take the opportunity to request both these books. If you don’t have college-aged or young children, both these books make great gifts.
With my love in the Lord Jesus,
