The Great Co-Mission

How to approach salvation with your son

Treign Up’s mission is to ‘train and affirm boys to become competent men of Christ-like character’. Mostly, we work to work with fathers, mentors, and the company of men to accomplish this goal. We have much work to do to develop our curriculum and other programming tools and we continue to write books and articles in an effort to share our insights, experiences, and research. This also helps us to formulate our own philosophies and theologies in regards to the mission.

However…

If we do not lead our young men to eternity through the saving work of Jesus Christ, all is in vain. What is the point of anything if it doesn’t lead to eternal life in Christ Jesus? Certainly, Solomon nailed it in Ecclesiastes when he said, “Meaningless. Meaningless. Everything is meaningless!” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) He closes that book of ‘wisdom’ with this idea: Fear God and obey His commands for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12;13b)

As parents, we partner with God in the raising up of His children. They are only on loan to us and for such a relatively short period of time. Really, the morality of a child is somewhat set by age 10. Scientists like Haidt, Kohlberg, and Piaget, who have formalized theories on cognitive and moral development, all agree on this.

Here’s a key quote from George Barna in Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions (2003):

“What you believe at age 13 is pretty much what you will die believing.”

And another central quote that underscores his point about early spiritual influence:

“The probability of someone embracing Jesus as their Savior is highest between the ages of 5 and 13 (32%), and then it drops to 4% for those aged 14 through 18, and 6% for people 19 and older.”

These quotes reflect Barna’s core argument: if the church wants to shape hearts for Christ, children must be the primary focus of evangelism and discipleship efforts.

As a children’s pastor/evangelist, I have long felt this to be true and the church needs to be further persuaded. For despite their rhetoric, you only need look to their budgets to see that they do NOT believe this is so.

Still, it is NOT the church’s job to make sure your children spend their eternity in heaven. It is the parents.