WE'RE NOT ON WALTON'S MOUNTAIN ANYMORE

Chuck Swindoll once said "The family is where life makes up its mind." In God's created order the family is the place where character is formed and a person learns how to live responsibly. It's where a child "learns the way he is to go" and is encouraged to embrace the way for which God has created him. It is the initial place where faith is formed.

There was a time when this was easier. John Westerhoff, in his excellent book Will the Children Have Faith? describes at least six other groups or influences that helped a parent plant and nurture faith in the lives of their children. First on that list was the church. But Westerhoff wrote almost thirty years ago and times have clearly changed. Now the church is the only remaining support to the family in this faith forming responsibility--and because many families have a yet unformed faith themselves--the church may be the only place.

Parents try, but they need all the help and understanding they can get. We're not on Walton's Mountain anymore. That's where a lot of us age 40 and older had our faith formed, in that easier, simpler environment--when families were living in a healthier, less threatened environment. It's also where we learned our "answers" to raising children, many of which no longer work. We're not on Walton's Mountain anymore.

Tomorrow at our 8.15 and 10.45 worship gatherings at the Church of God of Landisville, I am going to share a message on how the church can help families today be sure that their children will have faith. It's titled--you guessed it- "We're Not on Walton's Mountain Anymore."

Directions to the church can be found at the website www.coglandisville.org