Dad's Most Important Ministry

Here are some statistics we received on Father's day from the church we attended then. However, I am not sure of the original source.

Dad's Most Important Ministry

Here are some interesting statistics.

1.) If your parents worshiped with you regularly while you were growing up, chances are 80% that you will worship God regularly too.

2.) If only your mother worshiped regularly with you, chances are only 30% that you will worship regularly.

3.) Now, here's the catch: If only your father worshiped regularly with you, chances are still 70% that you will worship regularly as an adult.

Interpretation - Fathers have a great impact on their children's faith and values. That's pretty obvious. But there may be a more important conclusion: If only Mom is nurturing the kids' faith, then it is easy - especially for boys - to conclude that faith is a female thing, and if that's the case, it is easier for children to dump it as they get older. If Dad stays home on Sunday, the message is clear: Faith is not important to Dad and if it's not important to Dad, it need not be important to the kids.

But, isn't that a sexist interpretation of faith? What difference does it make if faith is important to Mom but not to Dad? We know that according to the Bible, the ideal is that "in Christ there is no male or female." But we don't live in an ideal world; the kingdom of God is not here in its fullness. Our world is still sexist, and on the results of that sexism is the kids will place more value of Christian faith if they see that it is important to Dad, as well as to Mom. What's Dad's most important ministry?

Worship regularly.