and training our young people that brings with it specific expectations and encouragements that work within families and between families in the Body of Christ.
ROP exposes parents and children to what the Bible teaches about becoming and acting like a young adult. ROP has become a high water mark for many young people in the church I help to lead. In fact the children in our church can’t wait to turn 12 and be eligible, upon parental approval, for participation in this spiritual process. I describe ROP in detail in chapter 5, but I want you to understand at this point that ROP is simply a process that mirrors Scripture in training our young people. ROP has as its ultimate goal the statement of Christ as a 12-year-old: “Didn’t you know I had to be about my Father’s business?” ROP is much more than just another program that you have in your church or in your home. It’s also not a quick-hit program that one uses at the end of the child’s upbringing. ROP is truly a way of life or the ultimate mission of a family that begins when the children are born. It is a way of describing the spiritual nature and process of the training and admonition which must take place on a daily basis so that our children may have an opportunity to truly understand what it means to live for Jesus Christ as their Lord. This process must be 100% Spirit-led and Spirit-guided. The Spirit of God is our “mission control.” Ultimately, ROP is the culmination of years of teaching and training in the home with the church assisting and helping to acknowledge and applaud those dedicated efforts to raise Christian young adults.
FINDING OUR WAY BACK
I am totally convinced the answer to our problem regarding the exodus, en masse, of our young adults lies in the pages of Scripture. We must return to the ancient paths as detailed in the Word of God. In so doing, we will find answers, instructions and many admonitions on how to successfully complete our mission. We will come to understand it is not the job of the church to spiritually raise children for parents. It is not my job, as a church leader, nor the job of the church to do for the family what God has designed as the work of the family. My job, and that of the church, is to work with the family in order to help encourage dads and moms in the process of raising and training Christ-centered young adults in their homes.
As church leaders, we must sincerely look at our efforts as churches regarding the effectiveness of our programs and analyze the return on investment we have been reaping. We must determine if these programs and the massive expenditures that go with them are worthwhile. I hope to show the ultimate program should be designed to partner with parents, particularly fathers in teaching and training their children (see Eph. 6:1-4). I am well aware that what I share could, at times, be considered somewhat controversial. However, Scripture and its principles are always counter-cultural. At times, I sincerely feel like a “voice crying out in the wilderness.” I know the teaching contained in the pages of this book will truly require a paradigm shift and for some, may even cause the proverbial bone to stick in the throat. Why do I say this? It may be hard to hear, but even those of us in the church have a great tendency to follow the crowd. After all, we say, “Everyone is doing church this way.” As we know, just because everyone is doing it, doesn’t make the method right. Being different, even if we learn it is Biblical, scares most people and it can certainly be intimidating to make tough choices.
Truthfully, what we have been doing over the last 30-40 years in our homes and churches is simply not working and we are losing another generation of young people. I hope to show how ROP can be a conduit through which the church and primarily the families of our young adults can successfully bring our children home, even when there is a period of silence and all we seem to hear is radio static. In the pages of this book, we will learn about a “Rite of Passage” way of living that will help us to clarify what are essentials in raising genuinely committed Christ-followers.
After the crippled Odyssey sent the radio message back to earth, “Houston, we have a problem,” Mission Control worked tirelessly to get the little command module back home. The engineers and scientists studied and diligently dissected the manuals of each piece of equipment that was onboard that spaceship. They found within the pages of those manuals a way to keep the three men alive until they could figure out how to get them back home. We too, have a manual, the Bible. We, as parents are the engineers at mission control in our homes. We have the responsibility of getting our children and young adults safely home. We must look to that great manual of life to find the answers. To the degree we read Scripture, study it, heed it, and follow it, will determine the degree of success we will have in making prudent and wise decisions in any area of life. ROP will help us to identify these Scriptural reference points, by which we must navigate our children, if we want to get them safely home. That’s our mission, and in the words of Gene Kranz, the Flight Director for Mission Control in 1970, “Failure is not an option!”
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