Timothy Paul Jones pre-con lab at D6 Conference

Timothy Paul Jones is professor of family ministry at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Starts by sharing a survey that can be used in churches to evaluate.

His packet for the pre-con lab is thick. Thanks for the great resources!

Three Tools Every Family Needs is the title for his pre-con lab.

Our most important ministry is to our wife & children. What we do in the home is who we are. It does not start at church or work, but instead in our own homes.

Check out "Family Ministry Field Guide: How Your Church Can Equip Parents to Raise Disciples" by Timothy Paul Jones.

90% of parents say I know I am responsible for discipling my kids.
40% of parents were doing something consistent in discipleship with their kids.

Why aren't parents discipling their children?

• 28%=lack of training
• 10%=lack of time
• 52%=lack of training & time
• 10%=other factors

3 factors to help in this area: telling, training & time

Telling

• How long does it take for someone involved in your ministry to know they are to disciple their own children?
• We must communicate consistently and clearly that parents are to be discipling their children.

Time

• Take an honest look at your church calendar. Are we making people too busy to disciple their own kids?
• Make sure people understand what we are expecting. Communicate clearly & explain: "once a week to have a Faith Talk", "once a day to have a Faith Walk with your children", & "Faith Process-where are your children spiritually? How are they growing spiritually?" Not about doing it perfectly, but being intentional & persistent.

Training

• Parents want to do it, but they just don't know how. This should be encouraging to us as church leaders.
  
• How do we do it? Jones calls this the T.I.E. principle. Train, Involve, Equip. Do not start anything new! Take what you have and change it.
• Train-Things that happen once a year. For example, a youth retreat. Before going on retreat, give parents some questions to discuss with their child. Another example: summer camp-family devotions built on themes from summer camp. For next 5 weeks, families could reinforce what was discussed during the week of camp.
• Involve-Example: mission trip. Encouraged fathers to attend. If child does not have a father present or a believing father, another male figure becomes for them their "family in faith". Fathers then led their family during the evening after working during the day. Give dads an easy win.
• Equip-Get a resource into their parents hands. Make it something they can take what you have done and reinforce it at home.

In all of this, the center is not the family. Our goal is not stronger families. Our goal is not to do family devotions. Our goal is to mobilize the family in proclaiming the gospel. Jesus is the center.

"Long Story Short" by Marty Machowski is a great resource for families.