A Message to the Church

by Dr. Robert Dreyfus                                                                                                                                  Vol. XIX, No. 3, March 2006

The worldview a person holds is terribly important. It is the lens with which we view the world, and will determine what kind of life he pursues. George Barna and others report that by the time a child is 13 he has developed the worldview, i.e. the way he sees the world, and the relationship with Christ that he will probably die believing. He also reports that only 7% of those calling themselves Christian have a Biblical worldview!

As years go by it becomes less likely that people will repent and accept the gospel. Unfortunately most churches only spend about 18% of their budget on youth ministry, and much of that is usually koolaid and cookies. We’re losing from 70 – 84% of children to secular humanism. What is the church going to resemble in another decade if we continue to do that which we’ve been doing?

I encourage you to go to www.worldviewweekend.com There you will find much information that will aid you in evangelization and teaching how to live and think like a Christian, such as:

· Books & DVD’s

· Free online worldview test

· Free worldview online institute

· Information on worldview conferences

Another excellent source for worldview materials is Gary Demar’s, American Vision www.AmericanVision.org 1-800-628-9460.

The Nehemiah Institute offers worldview training. They also have a PEERS test which measures a person’s worldview, i.e. whether or not it is socialist, secular or Biblical. See www.nehemiahinstitute.com. Test yourself, your children, and their teachers.

Summit Ministries under the direction of David Nobel also teaches worldview. Summit can be found at www.summit.org. Summit produces a one or two semester video-based curriculum for called Lightbearers which is designed to help students clearly understand the tenets of the Christian worldview, and how they compare to the tenets of the leading humanistic worldviews of our day. Students will learn how to apply their Christian faith to every area of life: theology, philosophy, ethics, biology, sociology, psychology, law, politics, economics, and history. Some of the issues covered include: abortion, apologetics, cults, evolution, feminism, homosexuality, naturalism, moral relativism, pluralism, relationships, and socialism.

If parents and the church do little else, it would be a great service to provide all Christians – young and old – the opportunity to view these materials including information on Intelligent Design, so that they can become Spiritual Champions to strengthen and defend and grow the faith. The total cost of this effort is can be as little as $100.00. There is no excuse for not doing this.