Good Biblical Challange, but Goes a Little Crazy at the End

books:


	• Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God Voddie T. Baucham Jr. Crossway Books, 2007 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 12 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

An Ideal Shaper!

This book has powerfully affirmed a hunch my husband and I already have, that the home should be the primary setting for spiritual formation. Voddie makes a case for the necessity of family worship. He uses Deuteronomy 6 to help impart God's design that His ways be taught diligently to our children. As a homeschool family, Voddie and his wife utilize the catechism to impart biblical theology to their children, and he expands on its usefulness which I found to be a good practical tip.
Voddie spends the last part of the book describing the family integrated church structure, a revolutionary concept to me in that it does not involve the segregation of the church body by age. The church is viewed as a "family of families," and children are not ushered out the back door to their respective meeting area. Instead, sitting on the pews of a family integrated church are "intact Christian families who can model worship and family" to other families or individuals growing in the Lord. As Voddie states, "I would much rather have little Johnny (hypothetical unchurched child) sitting with me, my wife, and children, than have him over in the youth building..." Voddie is a great defender of this notion of family-driven faith, is sweetly charitable to those opposed, and overall an inspiring man of God and family.

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A Powerful Call for a Revolution in Families & Churches

Multiple studies have shown that over 80% of all teens that are active in evangelical American churches have completely abandoned Christianity by their 2nd year of college.

What's the problem? How do we solve it?

Voddie Baucham has a simple and Bible-based answer:

Our children are falling away because we are asking the church to do what God designed the family to accomplish.

What does he mean by that statement? At one time Christian worship, teaching, & ministry was primarily a function of the family. It was considered normal for families to sing hymns together daily, for the father to systematically teach the Bible daily, to pray daily, for the family to look for ways to minister and reach out to others. The family as a unit was the cornerstone, the basic building block of Christ's Kingdom here on earth.

Today, however, it is far different. The center of most children's religious interaction, worship and learning is the church, from nursery to teen youth group. Although well intentioned, it is a poor substitute for family driven faith.

This book is a well-written introduction to the concept of family driven faith. It has chapters on the importance of the marriage bond, family worship, family teaching and education, and what a family centered, family integrated church can look like compared to the ordinary evangelical church of today. Voddie is passionate but humble, vocal but not argumentative about his vision for families and for churches. If you have children, this book is must reading if you desire to see your children (and your grandchildren) walking faithfully with God all their lives.

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Worthwhile Reading (But Some Words of Caution)

Voddie Baucham's book Family-Driven Faith is somewhat uneven, filled with great insights and overused phrases, with practical applications and utopian notions. Baucham's premise is that the family is the primary training ground for the spiritual lives of children. He opposes age-based ministry in the church and advocates home-schooling. He is especially opposed to public schools. On many of his points I find broad agreement. Certainly parents should not abdicate responsibility for the spiritual nurture of their children to the church or to the ministry staff of their church. The value of family worship is a good emphasis of the book as well. This resonates with many biblical texts and helps families make Christ the Lord of all of life and not only of time at church. It is true, as Baucham says, that many Christian parents are more concerned with the college choices of their children, or their sports and activities than with their growth in godliness. He is also right to point out the predjudice, even within Christian culture, that sometimes comes to those parents who have more than two children and/ or homeschool their children. With all this in mind I would say that reading this book is worth your time. The book contains many solid insights.

I am a bit concerned that near the end of the book Baucham references Vision Forum Ministries as an example of family-integrated ministry. Baucham's book is featured in the Vision Forum catalog as well. I have reservations about the work of the Vision Forum primarily because I believe that in trying to uphold some teachings of Scripture and trying to refute some of the cherished beliefs of our culture they swing too far to the other extreme, sometimes sacrificing historical or scientific truth for the sake of their broader agenda (a kind of "political correctness" in reverse).

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A must read!

This has to be one of the best, most powerful books on parenting and family that I've ever read! I knew from just reading the Introduction that this was going to be a powerful, life changing book. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Good Biblical Challange, but Goes a Little Crazy at the End

This book is certainly worth reading, and Baucham has some really good thoughts on the importance of discipling your children, doing family devos, etc. The first part of the book provided a challenge in this area that was straight from scripture, and as the parent of three young children, I needed to hear.

However, especially in the second part of the book Baucham goes further than I'm comfortable with in his criticisms of churches who have youth ministries and Christians who have normal work schedules and/or send their kids to school. As a pastor, I can't agree with his view of the church. It is very good to promote the family and most churches probably need to do it more - but if a church is only promoting family there are a lot of other important things they are not promoting.

I hope you will read this book, and have the discernment to be challenged where you need to be and discerning where you must be.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

This bold book is an urgent call to parents--and the church--to return to biblical discipleship in and through the home.

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