Christian young people; they are accepting what the world preaches
about marriage and family.
Barbara and I are doing our best to raise our children and keep
them unstained by evil. In the area of relationships with the opposite
sex, we have built a fence of behavior standards, not at the bottom of
the slippery slope just before the cliff ’s edge, but far inland. For exam-
ple, we have challenged our children to save their first kiss for their
spouse at the wedding altar. Have all of them done that? No. But we
will never know what personal devastation we have prevented by hav-
ing the courage to hold up this high standard. (I know you may not
agree with our challenge to our sons and daughters, and I have no
problem with that. But I do want to ask you, what are your standards
and boundaries? Where will you draw the line with your children con-
cerning physical involvement with the opposite sex?)
Third, a family reformation will require innovative strategies and new tac-
tics by local churches.If we are going to see positive, enduring change in
families, we will have to abandon some old practices and embrace
some new ones. Our God is creative and dynamic. He gives us the
freedom to slay sacred cows. We can retire programs that are obsolete.
Times have changed. The culture has spent and squandered moral and
spiritual capital inherited from our forefathers. We must reinvest and
rebuild. It’s time to create new church infrastructures of ministry to
the family. To do that, I propose four mandates for family ministry in
the new millennium.
FOURMANDATES FOR THENEWMILLENNIUMCHURCH
Before I launch these ideas I want to express my admiration for the
men and women who lead various ministries of the local church. I
have been an elder and have many close friends who are pastors. I have
helped shoulder their weight on many occasions and know this role
is one of the more difficult assignments in all of life. I offer these man-
dates in the spirit of a servant, someone who eagerly desires a more
spiritually healthy environment for ministry to families. My goal is
not to add more weight to a load of responsibility that is already heavy.
I sincerely think that these challenges to change local church ministry
18 BUILDINGSTRONGFAMILIES