As Christian fathers and mothers do this, impressing on their children God’s message of sin and grace, the Holy Spirit works through that message, and their children are blessed with repentance, faith, and salvation in Christ. Yet, as Christian parents seek to instruct their children in God’s Word faithfully, they face many challenges.

The Challenges

First among the challenges is our own sin and weakness. To be blunt, the sin that lives in every Christian parent hates God’s word. It does not want to hear, read, or teach about Jesus. This is the basic reason every father and mother falls short of impressing God’s Word on our children as we should. Sin also tempts us parents to allow the bustle of daily life to choke out family time spent in God’s Word. “I have a house to clean.” “I have to give the kids their baths.” “I’m just too tired.” “The children have too much homework.” The list is long.

The other challenge to evangelism in the home is the sin of our children. Sin is just as strong in them as it is in us. This is why our children frequently need to be encouraged to make use of daily devotion time and regular church attendance.

If Evangelism in the Home Goes Lacking

A lack of evangelism in the home is harmful, not only to our children, but also to the broader effort of the church to go into the entire world with the Good News.

Any Christian father and mother can fall into the trap of getting so wrapped up in “doing evangelism” to save the world that their children, our first evangelism responsibility, are left behind. How does this affect our children? Their faith does not receive the nourishment it needs to mature. They can also begin to feel like leftovers. How does it affect the broader mission of the church? Let’s put it this way: how sad if we Christians of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod became known for losing our own children in our zeal to evangelize the world!

The Blessings

We Christians of the ELS have been blessed to hear and learn and believe the pure Good News message of the Bible. Jesus lived a perfect life, (including a perfect life of evangelism) to fulfill everything we have left unfulfilled in our sinful lives. Jesus died an atoning death for all our sins (including the sins we have committed in failing to evangelize our children well). By Word and Baptism, the Holy Spirit has given us faith to trust in Christ. Through this faith we are clothed with Christ, and receive forgiveness. This is salvation for us sinners, full and free! It is also the lifeblood to a healthy and balanced approach to evangelism.

So it is essential that we Christian parents remain in God’s Word and baptism day by day, so that faith grows, confidence of salvation remains firm, and love for our children increases. In this, our love and hunger for teaching them about Jesus increases! In faith and love, we don’t see this as something that keeps us from doing real evangelism; rather we recognize it is the starting point for all evangelism! Certainly the concern we have for those inside our homes will be evident to those we seek to reach outside our homes—in the small towns, suburbs, and cities of our country.

Matthew Crick is pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in San Antonio, Texas.