A Sacred Stewardship in an Age of Confusion
“Take heed to the souls of your children, and see that they be not neglected while you are taken up with lesser things. Let your care of their souls be your chiefest care.”
One of the great joys experienced in this world—outside of the transformative grace of God to redeem a sinner—is to be called mother or father. The bestowal of such titles upon human beings is not merely an enduring cultural tradition, but a holy foundation established by the Triune God of Sacred Scripture. When a man and woman are entrusted with a child, they are given a sacred opportunity to raise a life in this world.
Raising a child is both a profound opportunity and a weighty responsibility. Even the surrounding culture seems to grasp this to some extent. Parenting advice abounds—a choir of competing voices. Yet it is a dissonant choir: each voice singing its own note with certainty, each declaring its own authority on how one ought to parent. The result is deafening to the ears of today’s parents.
It’s no wonder, then, that a thick fog of confusion has settled over many. Parents inhale the pollution of foolishness and ideological distortion, leaving them disoriented and discouraged. What’s more troubling is that this fog has not remained outside the Church—it has floated into the covenant community. Christian parents, who deeply desire to honor Christ as Lord in their homes, often find themselves unsure of what faithfulness looks like. They wrestle with how to lead and raise their children, yet increasingly feel as if the battle is lost before it’s even begun. To raise children with wisdom, faith, and courage in a world that opposes that very calling can feel like an impossible task. But God has not left us without light or instruction. His Word speaks.
Permit me to briefly explain the reasons behind our consideration of this topic of exposition:
A Matter of Principle
The Scriptures are not silent on the subject of the family. From Genesis to Revelation, God’s Word is saturated with instruction and implication for parents, children, and the household. The Bible does not treat the family as an afterthought, but as a primary context for covenant faithfulness and gospel formation. The creation mandate involves fruitfulness and dominion through the family [Genesis 1:28]. The incarnation of Christ comes through a human family—one protected by the obedience of Joseph and nurtured by the faith of Mary. The Apostle Paul praises the sincere faith of Timothy’s mother and grandmother [2 Timothy 1:5], anchoring the young minister’s discipleship in his home life. Simply put, the Bible is a book for the family.
A Matter of Urgency
Yet, we are living in a cultural moment where the family is under siege. The foundations are crumbling.
Consider the signs:
The sanctity of life has been abandoned through the ongoing slaughter of unborn children under the name of choice.
The definition of family has been reimagined to accommodate same-sex couples adopting children, severing God’s design for gender complementarity in parenting.
The innocence of children is under assault through the sexual exploitation and ideological grooming propagated even by some parents.
Parental authority is being traded for child autonomy, where children are treated as self-defining sovereigns rather than souls needing shepherding.
These are not neutral societal shifts. These are ideological assaults—active rebellions against the created order. And tragically, they are not confined to the world outside. These ideas have seeped into the church, subtly reshaping the way many Christian parents think about their role. Parents are increasingly hesitant to teach, correct, or disciple with confidence, unsure of their moral authority. The goalposts of biblical fidelity are often replaced with cultural approval. And in some cases, family discipleship is outsourced entirely to the church or abandoned altogether.
In light of this erosion, and by God’s grace, I’ve had the joy and burden of walking alongside many parents in our congregation. These conversations—marked by both tears and prayers—have deepened my conviction that we must return to a biblical vision for parenting. We must recover what it means to raise children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord [Ephesians 6:4]. We must, once again, see parenting as a sacred stewardship entrusted by God, not merely a seasonal obligation.
A Matter of Vision
From the earliest days of Doxa Church, we have prayed that this local fellowship would not be a fleeting flame but a long-burning torch—one that endures through the generations. We’ve asked the Lord that our great-great-grandchildren might worship and serve Him in this very place. Such generational fruit does not grow accidentally. It must be cultivated with intentionality.
And yet, how many Christian parents quietly cling to this familiar hope:
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.
—Proverbs 22:6
It’s a verse many can quote—and one that silently shapes how we parent, what we expect, and how we respond when things don’t go as we hoped. But how do we fulfill this wisdom in a world like ours? Right now?
The Aim of the Sermon Campaign
This is why we are launching Arrows & Quivers: An Exposition on Biblical Parenting—a sermon campaign designed to help parents behold their calling afresh, to equip them with biblical clarity, and to cast a vision for generational discipleship that outlives all of us. Our hope is to see homes reformed, hearts rekindled, and the next generation readied for the road ahead.
Conclusion
Let us take up the bow and tend to the quiver. For the arrows we release today will one day fly further than we can imagine.
Like any skill, parenting requires time, practice, and the lessons learned from both successes and failures. Yet, the pressing question for many parents remains: How? How can they grow in skill and effectively train these arrows to be released into the world?
The Arrows & Quivers sermon campaign seeks to answer this question—offering Christian parents guidance and support in honing the skill of parenting, so they may release their arrows into the world and fill every inch with God’s glory.
May the Spirit of Christ fill our minds and form our hearts with increasing usefulness as we fulfill this holy vocation of parenting—for the good of our children’s souls, for the refining of our own lives, for the edification of Christ’s Church, and for the brightness of our witness before a watching world.
Soli Deo Gloria,
