Cultivating Life Long Faith 4

All this week we’re looking at David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock’s book Faith for Exiles, and the five ministry practices churches and families must pursue to lead kids into life-long faith. The research done by Kinnaman and Matlock indicates that in order to form a lasting faith, we must ground and motivate our kids through training for vocational discipleship. This means that they know and live out God’s calling on their lives, especially in the arena of work while conforming their ambitions to God’s purposes. In today’s world, the culture teaches our kids to pursue work and vocation as a passport to privilege. Rather than seeing work as a way to serve God and further His kingdom, our work is about making money, pursuing fame, and building up the kingdom of me, myself, and I. One of the key opportunities facing the twenty-first-century church is to help kids learn that they have been made for something, and that something is a life where faith is integrated into their work.