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Defending the Family

Raising the next Generation With Church Involvement

October 13, 2010 - At the 2010 National Conference on Christian Apologetics, the theme was Defending the Faith and the Family. One of the biggest concerns facing the family today is raising up the next generation. Chad Miller, Director of BGEA’s Dare to be a Daniel, was a speaker at this year’s conference. Read below as he shares his passion about getting the church community involved and training youth in biblical literacy.

Chad Miller is interested in more than just investing in the lives of our youth. He wants to get others to come alongside him.

“Titus 2 is an interesting passage that is a charge for older men to train younger men, and for older women to encourage younger women. We are to teach sound doctrine, get the whole community involved, and raise up the next generation,” said Miller.

Miller said his session at the conference is about more than raising new leaders. It’s about preserving the spiritual health of the next generation. “Our lives are a display window for the word of God. The Gospel will either be held up or reviled based on the way we engage them.”

Ultimately, Miller’s goal is to point to the Bible as the lifeblood of our lives. “With our actions and the way we engage the next generation, we can either build up or destroy – in others’ eyes – the very foundation by which we stand. We can witness, but do we care about anybody?”

There’s also the importance of raising a biblically literate generation. Miller explained that many young believers no longer want to read the Bible; they just want a summary of it. “Sometimes they just want a couple of paragraphs, or maybe even less, like 140 characters in a tweet. This young generation doesn’t seem care much about the whole narrative, they’d rather have a sound bite or two – but you can’t really understand God’s love without the text of God’s written Word.”

While it’s important to teach, encourage and admonish, Miller said it comes back to our direct investment in the lives of the next generation.

“We need to be active in more than just social initiatives. We need to be involved in lives. And we need to live our lives in such as way so that people see something distinctive about you and ask you about the hope we have – Jesus.”

To learn more about the National Conference on Christian Apologetics, visit their Web site.