From the Elder's Pen "Are Your Children Going To Heaven?" 9/28/03 Past/Future Articles

 Elders nationwide are concerned about the dropout rate of our young people.  And well, they ought to be.  It is tragic to see these precious boys and girls who are so thrilled with the Bible study as little people, grow cold and uninterested in the Lord’s work as they grow older.

 Lately, several congregations have had in-depth studies of all the factors available concerning their young people with an eye to learning what might be done to help solve this problem.  What do we need?  More youth programs?  Special teachers?

 From the material that has been published on these studies, it seems that one great general truth has begun to emerge.  Faithfulness of the young person to Jesus doesn’t have anything to do with special programs of teachers.  It is not dependent on whether they are members of a large congregation or a small one.  The single most important value is their own immediate family.

 One congregation found that where both parents were faithful to the Lord, and that includes active interest in the local congregation’s programs, 93% of the children remained faithful.  On the other hand, if only one parent was faithful, that figure dropped to 73%.  Where the parents were what we would call only reasonably active in the Lord’s work, only 53% of the young people maintained their faith.

 Now, here comes the shocker.  In those cases when both parents attended only infrequently, the percentage of their children who remained faithful to the Lord dropped to 6%!

 Do you want your children to go to heaven?  Then make certain you are leading them.  That is the only way they are going.