As part of my role as Men’s Ministry Director, I’ve been working on a Seminar Series entitled: Discipling Dads. The goal is to give Dads some direction for fulfilling the Great Commission at home-with their own kids/families. As Fathers we are called to direct our “children onto the right path” (Proverbs 22:6) and give them the spiritual training they need for life. This is a serious calling, but one that too many men feel ill-equipped for (so in typical male fashion we often just leave it to someone else). At the end of the seminar, Dads should have a “blueprint” for going through the discipleship journey with their kids. Wouldn’t it be great to have kids going into our youth groups with a foundation to build on instead of waiting for the foundation building to occur (when it’s sometimes too late)?

This will be an ongoing blog series as I work out some of the content of the seminar and get it sharpened. I’ve already been doing some of the early work (it’s still actually in progress) and have been praying about it for some time now-it was God that placed the topic on my heart in the first place and He has been refining it ever since. I’ll be sharing the basic seminar outline, content, and materials as I more fully develop them, but… 

Here’s where I need your help now. One of the basic contexts of the seminar is teaching our kids the basics, the foundations, of the Christian faith (actually it’s more about modeling the Christian walk ourselves first and then teaching our kids). What I need to sharpen is this list of fundamental, Biblical elements that are essential for us as men to pass onto our kids. Here is the list I have so far. Note that these are general topics, I haven’t fleshed them out here on purpose (I’ll be doing that further down the road). Right now I am mainly looking for the big-picture topics:

• Developing a Personal Relationship with the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)
• The Core Spiritual Disciplines/Habits
  • Scripture 
  • Prayer
  • Worship
  • Fasting
  • Confession
• The Great Commandment 
• The Great Commission
• Servant Leadership
• Theology 101 (a.k.a.: What will you die for in your faith? This includes the Inerrancy of Scripture, Virgin Birth, etc)
• Biblical Community
• Submission
• The Sacraments (i.e.: Baptism, Communion)

That’s what I’ve got so far (off the top of my head). Now it’s your turn…what are the foundational truths I’ve missed? How would you refine and/or expand on the draft version of these topics? There’s a lot more refining and definition to be done here so let loose. Let me put the question to you another way (actually two ways):
          1. If you were a Youth Pastor what would you want the new kids to already know?
          2. What do you wish someone would have taught you in your early spiritual development?

PS: Our family will be out camping for the next few days so there won’t be another blog submission until this weekend. Have a great week!!