I was once asked by a visitor what my church had to offer for his children that other churches did not have.  I told him that we did not have many activities for the youth (we did have some), but one thing that our church could offer him was that if he adopted covenant theology, he would not lose his children to the world.  I thought I was offering him a great deal.  I was offering him a great deal!  We did not offer anything exciting or entertaining, but we did offer hope in the covenant promises of God. 

Statistics vary according to the source, but it appears credible that nearly half of the babies born in America today are born out of wedlock.  Among black population the percentage is moving toward 80%.  It is obvious that the impact of Christianity on America is in decline.  We are in a crisis mode!

The solutions to this crisis vary according to religious presuppositions.  The educational elite are demanding more education, without recognizing that this decline in morality has occurred under the influence of widespread public education.  The politicians are demanding that more money be spent on the young unmarried mothers, without recognizing that this decline in morality has occurred under the spread of a gigantic welfare state.

The church typically reacts by hiring a full-time youth minister, building more family life centers, making children’s church more interesting, or sending the children off to summer camps (hoping for the best). Even after trying all this, it is sad, but in many churches the youth leave as soon as they get their driver’s license, thinking that the church has nothing to offer them.

There are real Christian solutions to this decline. Let me explain this by applying the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. In a simple mental picture without digging into all the ramifications and assumptions of covenant theology, let me paint in words something like a Norman Rockwell picture. Picture with me a Christian man who is a kind but firm head of his home and who leads his family to church, standing in the worship service singing “Holy, Holy, Holy” with gusto, enthusiasm, passion and pleasure.  Picture his wife standing beside him and beside her several small children looking up at their father in amazement and pride as he bellows forth with song his convictions about himself and God. Picture the smallest children being in the nursery.  Picture no children’s church.

As the family continues to sit in the worship service, picture the father with his Bible open, reading along with the pastor as he reads the sermon text.  The children, even those who can’t read, are looking for some page in their own Bibles that gives the impression that they too are reading the text, just like their father.  If Dad does it, it must be important!  Yes, the children may fall asleep in church, but they know they have to be quiet because their father is peering at them through an extra eye in his head.  There are consequences for being too noisy.

This is not only an expectation, but the norm in many churches today. I would estimate that well over ninety percent of the children that grow up in such churches go on to be an integral part of reformed and covenantal churches as adults.

I was once asked by a visitor what my church had to offer for his children that other churches did not have.  I told him that we did not have many activities for the youth (we did have some), but one thing that our church could offer him was that if he adopted covenant theology, he would not lose his children to the world.  I thought I was offering him a great deal.  I was offering him a great deal!  We did not offer anything exciting or entertaining, but we did offer hope in the covenant promises of God.  After 40 years in the pastorate, I have seen that God keeps his covenant promises. What I offered the man, with very few exceptions, is true. I bear witness to this fact.

It may be a long way back to the biblical model of a family where the man is the head of his home, but reformed-covenantal churches need to set an example. Actually, it is one way to preach the gospel.  God not only saves individuals, but he saves families and nations.  There is hope for a nation in crisis.

Larry E. Ball is an Honorably Retired Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America and a CPA. He lives in Kingsport, Tennessee.