by Ron Readhimer

[Editorial Note: This month we have been focusing on family, both physical and spiritual. This article should help to inspire parents and grandparents (as well as everyone else) to model faithfulness for the next generation.]

Church leaders all over the nation are concerned about the drop-out rate of young people. And well they should be. It is a tragic thing to see these precious boys and girls, who are so thrilled with Bible study as little people, grow cold and uninterested in the Lord’s work as they grow older.

Lately, several congregations have made in-depth studies of the factors leading to youth leaving the church, with an eye to learning what might be done to help solve this problem. What do we need? More youth programs? More rallies? Special teachers?

A great central truth has begun to emerge from these studies. Their faithfulness to Jesus doesn’t have anything to do with special programs or teachers. It is not dependent on whether they are members of a large congregation or a small one. The single most important factor is their own immediate family.

One congregation found that when both parents were faithful to the Lord, and that includes active interest in the local congregation's programs, 93 percent of the children remained faithful. On the other hand, if only one parent was faithful, the figure dropped to 73 percent. Where both parents were only marginally active, it fell to 53 percent. Now comes the shocker—when both parents attended infrequently, 6 percent of their children remained faithful to the Lord.

Do you want your children to go to heaven? Then make certain you are leading them. The likelihood is they’ll go no other way!

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.