Education Insights • 2024 • Volume 2 • Issue 1 21 with and desired Christ-exalting ends have developed some human-exalting means. One example of this is attempting to draw larger audiences the focus shifts to appealing to the congregant instead of pleasing the Lord. The audience, instead of the Lord, are the focus. Often these churches are not even aware of the culture and subculture that they have created or promoted. The man of God must be resolved to focus on his God and see to it that nothing diverts his attention. Furthermore, he must establish boundaries that keep him focused on the main thing—obedience to the Lord. “We live in a Genesis 3 world with a Genesis 1 blueprint on the trajectory to a Revelation 21 future,” writes professor of ethics and apologetics Andrew Walker.7 Walker’s astute insight succinctly describes the battle that faces all of humanity and what men must remember in their desire to shepherd their families according to God’s written revelation. History The local church along with biblically obedient men have always been called to be at odds with society. Christian tradition has helped guard the church and individuals from folding under the pressures of society. Tradition alone is not sufficient, but it can be a helpful tool in navigating the ever-eroding landscape of fatherhood. However, it will be helpful to study church history to see how the church has stood against the bombardment of culture. Church history testifies to the home being a place of worship and instruction in the things of the Lord. From the close of the canon of Scripture, Christian parents, and specifically fathers, have been instructed and understood to be the fountainhead of biblical teaching in the home.8 God has utilized His bride to guard and guide families from the early church, Middle Ages, Reformation, Puritans, and along with the modern period. Within the past couple of decades church leaders and seminaries have sought to emphasize the family and help churches return to biblically faithful models. These models seek to emphasize the role of parents by intentionally partnering with them and equipping them with the biblical task of equipping their children (Eph 6:4). Thankfully, many evangelical ministers are rediscovering the biblical and historical importance of fathers training their children in the faith. Therefore, there is hope for a brighter future for families and the local church. 7 Andrew Walker, God and the Transgender Debate: What Does the Bible Actually Say about Gender Identity (Epsom, England: Good Book, 2018), 88. 8 C. Michael Wren, Jr., “Among Your Company at Home: Family Discipleship in Late Ancient and Medieval Households,” in Trained in the Fear of God, ed. Randy Stinson and Timothy Paul Jones (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2011), 103.
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