God’s Word for a Young World These are the commands, decrees and laws the L ORD your God directed...

God’s Word for a

Young World

God’s Word . . .

God’s Word for a Young World


These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (NIV)


Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.



These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.



. . . Impress them (the Scriptures) on your

children . . .Deuteronomy 6:7 (NIV)

The Great Priority


Get them (the Scriptures) inside of you and then get them inside your children.

Deuteronomy 6:7 (Msg)

The Great Priority


Talk about (the Scriptures) when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up(Dt. 6:7)

“Very seldom do parents have trouble with children when the Bible is read regularly in the home . . .”

Billy Graham, CNS News, November 2014

The Great Priority


Tie (the Scriptures) as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads (Dt. 6:8)

“Fifty-three percent of young adult Canadian Christians never study the Bible”

Ed Stetzer, LifeWay Research

The Great Priority


Write (the Scriptures) on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates (Dt. 6:9)

“More people now check Facebook than read the Bible on a daily basis . . . 143 million daily Facebook users in the USA and Canada . . . about 40 million Americans and 1.3 million Canadians reading the

Bible each day”

Time Magazine, February 5, 2014.

The Great Priority

Our World . . .



A Changing Religious Environment . . .

• 1955 - 60% of Canadians attended church once a week• 2006 – 11% of Canadians attended church once a week• Catholics holding steady (1931 – 41%, 2009 – 40%)• Mainline Protestants declining (1931 – 48%, 2009 – 17%)• Evangelicals growing (1931 – 8%, 2009 – 11%)• Other religions growing (1931 – 3%, 2009 – 8%)• “Nones” growing (1931 – 1%, 2009 – 24%)

Sources: Ipsos Reid, Statistics Canada, Pew Research Centre, Outreach Canada


A Changing Culture . . .

• Scientism, humanism and narcissism is increasing• A rising distrust of institutional religion• Moral relativism is the dominant ethic• Rights of parents are being challenged by the state• Divide between rich and poor is increasing• People more likely to be “spiritual” than “religious”• Religious disaffiliation increasing with each new generation

Sources: Ipsos Reid, Statistics Canada, Pew Research Centre, Outreach Canada

For the young . . .



• 50% of world’s population under 20 years of age• 5.6 million children (0-14) in Canada (2.2 million in Ontario)• 2.2 million youth (15-19) in Canada• 1 in 4 people in Canada are children/youth• 16% of Canadian families are single parent families• 9.5% of children and youth live in low-income situations•4.6% of children have a parent in jailSources: Canadian 2011 National Household Survey

Public Safety Canada

By the Numbers


Source: Statistics Canada 2011 Census

Uxbridge Population by Five Year Age Groups and Sex


Age Groups Both Sexes Males Females

0-4 years 900 470 425

5-9 years 1,155 620 535

10-14 years 1,480 800 680

15-19 years 1,695 870 825

Total 0-19 5,230 2,760 2,465

Total 0-85+ 20,620 10,185 10,435




• 6,065 families• 77.4% married couples• 10.6% common-law-couples• 12% lone-parent families

Uxbridge Families


Children aren’t getting connected to Jesus. Each successive generation of Canadians has fewer Christians than the previous generation . . .

Here’s the problem . . .


• Priority should be given to connecting children with God’s Story • We should be 4/14 window focused • Our sweet-spot should be to "reach, rescue, root, and release children into relationship with Jesus Christ ..."• Children are the greatest mission field (80% of Christians come to faith in Christ before 19 years of age)• What we’ve done in the past may not work in the future• Operational budgets should be revised/restructured• We can’t do it alone• Impressing the Scriptures on our children starts in our homes

So what are the implications for LWCC?


Children matter to Jesus so they should matter to us.

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these" Matthew 19:14 (NIV).

Here’s the rub . . .


Conclusion

Story


. . . Impress them (the Scriptures) on your

children . . .Deuteronomy 6:7 (NIV)

Conclusion

God’s Word for a

Young World

God’s Word for a Young World These are the commands, decrees and laws the L ORD your God directed...

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