EMPOWER the home
God established the home as the fundamental building block of society. It is my conviction that parents were intended, by God, to be the primary influencers on a child’s life. As God gave KEM a fresh mission, it became clear that there must be a greater effort to EMPOWER the home.
Empowerment is a hot topic in today’s world. You hear about efforts to empower women, employees and/or even the individual. The dictionary defines the term empower this way.
It is to give power or authority to do something.
If there is one group of people that needs to be empowered today, it is parents. But who can EMPOWER parents? The only one that can EMPOWER the home is the One who ordained the home from the beginning of time — God. God has specifically given parents the authority to do certain things. The most important task that He has authorized parents to do is to bring them [children] up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).
There are many passages of Scriptures that prove that God has empowered parents for this task. Some of the most familiar passages are Deuteronomy 6:4-7, Psalm 78:1-7, Psalm 127:3-5. God has empowered parents for the all-important task of raising their children biblically.
Not only has God given parents the legal and moral authority to raise their children, He also enables them to do this. God would not merely tell parents that they are the ones who are to raise their children in Lord and then leave it up to parents to figure out how to do it. He also empowers them by telling them how they should do this. Parents are empowered to fulfill this God-given mandate by knowing and understanding key biblical principles found in the Bible.
God has laid upon my heart the conviction and desire to EMPOWER the home through kingdom education. KEM will do this by helping parents understand their God-given mandate to provide their children with a biblical worldview education. Parents must understand that they are primarily responsible for the education of their children.
However, too many parents believe that it is the church’s, school’s or state’s responsibility to educate children. If that were true, then God would have given children to the church, school or government. God didn’t do that He gave children to parents.
It is also important that every effort is made to make sure that the home understands the biblical principles that can guide parents in completing this vital task. I have found 14 biblical principles that tell us how God wants us to educate future generations. It is critical that every effort is made to make these principles known to parents.
When parents know that God has given them the authority to educate their children and the principles by which they are to do so, then the church and school must be ready to partner with and assist the home in fulfilling this mandate. Each individual must be RESTORED to think biblically about all of life, especially the education of future generations. When this occurs, individuals will understand how important it is to EMPOWER the home.As parents we must accept our responsibility to educate our children biblically and embrace the biblical principles that will show us how to fulfill this assignment from the Lord. God wants to EMPOWER the home to educate future generations so that they will become disciples of Jesus Christ.
I agree 100% with parents being the primary drivers in raising their children biblically and being responsible. You mentioned “the church and school must be ready to partner with and assist the home in fulfilling this mandate.” Too many congregation’s of the Lord’s church are not partnering to assist families understand the importance of this and stepping up to support those who need it. We have much work to be done in this regard in my opinion. Appreciate KEM and the role it plays in equipping young people to be warriors for Christ. Press on!
Spot on once again Glen.
Well said. Is it any wonder that the disintegration of the biblically defined family authority structure in our countries has produced such destructive social chaos? Through ministries like KEM, we in the Body of Christ must strengthen the things that remain.
The biblical mandate for parents being solely responsible for the training of their children, as you say, Glen, is the ONLY basis we have for Kingdom schools to even exist. Without that, we have no scripturally based partnership or permission to engage in what we do. Sadly, the American Church, as a whole, and the leaders in those churches, do not even have a mental ascent to, let alone a passion for that God-ordained dynamic.
Thank you for sharing your biblical wisdom, insights, and reflections. I am sharing this article with my adult children as an encouragement.