Yes, we’re looking for a strong, Biblically-sound, and passionate man (and wife) to take the lead in a much-needed work in the Lord’s church. We’re calling him “Gideon”.

And we’re looking for his 300 warriors who will work with him, and with God, to turn things around in the church.

What is the reason for this search?

Have you noticed how many of our young people leave the Lord soon after leaving home? The statistics are high. Many factors feed into the problem.

One is the small amount of time that many parents spend with their children, because both the father and the mother are working outside the home. Another problem is that too few parents have daily Bible study with their children, with the result that what should be a “Christian family” is actually a “morally good secular family”, except that they may attend worship on Sunday.

A third problem is that much of the literature used for the past three decades or so, in our Bible classes, has been written by denominational people for interdenominational use. Obviously, the lessons must be presented as morals, values, principles, and Bible history. Definitive doctrine cannot be covered because that would limit the use of the materials. And the result is that many, of the younger generations, have never been taught clearly about the church, or obedience to the Gospel, or acceptable worship, or our purpose in this world. When they “leave” it is not that they are turning their backs on the truth; there has been no conviction concerning truth.

Admittedly, too many men who fill our pulpits these days have adopted the attitude reported by Dalton Key in a recent article in this magazine. He wrote that some years ago an older preacher had told him that he was not preaching “doctrine” any more, because it was only divisive. And brother Key commented, “After years of this soft preaching, we are experiencing an apostasy.”

So, if neither many of the parents, nor some preachers, nor much of our class materials are covering definitive doctrine, it is not surprising that there are people who regularly attend our worship services who do not know the difference between the church of Christ and the denominational world. Some now question the necessity of baptism. Some see no problem with adding instruments of music to worship. Some think of the New Testament as a book of ideals rather than laws laid down by God. In this age of “I’m OK, you’re OK” and “Don’t be judgmental”, many in the church have accepted “tolerance” and “compromise” to the point that the authority of the Scriptures has been rendered meaningless.

When the older generations, that were reputed to really know the Scriptures, are gone, what kind of apostasy will take place in the American church? What will be the reality twenty years down the road?

How can we bring the church back to the point of real conviction and motivation? How can a large enough percentage of Christians be re-taught, so that things can be turned around? Can it be done through our Gospel papers? No, because too few Christians take those papers and read them. Can it be done through our pulpits? No, because not enough preachers are on fire with the subject; and others are part of the problem. Can we depend on the Christian colleges? No, because a growing number of them are contributing to the apostasy, as happened in 1906.

So, how can the greater portion of the church be reached? The one answer seems to be developing literature that will have the opposite effect of the materials now being used: a new line of classroom studies, that will look so good and will be so good and will offer so many options that it will be a welcomed teaching tool throughout the brotherhood.

Yes, we must prepare ourselves and our children with knowledge of God’s word, and with the experience of a living relationship with Him, so that if this growing trend of opposition to Christianity continues to escalate, we — and our children — will be able to stand.

What Do We Propose?

Component Parts

• Classbooks — perfect-bound, full-color books for the child to keep in his permanent library.
• Teacher’s manual and visuals for the room, with training DVDs (buy only once).
• LifeSpan weekly paper for take-home.
• Book of Bible Knowledge — compilation of visuals for each lesson of each quarter, bound into book form, for the child’s permanent library, for review throughout childhood.
• Flash cards for memory work — picturized for younger children, photo from lesson with verse on back for older children.
• Memory verses set to music, with accompanying CDs.
• Time Lines (4 levels, for Wednesday evening studies) showing Biblical events, corresponding secular events in that time in the world; secular events with providential overruling, changing the course of history.
• Parenting class materials for Sunday classes and for family devotionals.
• Daily Devotional material — drills/review materials.
• Song books and CDs — Adult, teen, juvenile.
• VBS guides, lessons, and pattern books, with DVDs for instructions.
• Bible Times Rooms with instructions for making the rooms; lesson books, DVDs.
• Mission Learning Centers with instructions for making the rooms; lesson books, DVDs.
• DVDs of special adult class materials.
• DVDs of Holy Land experiences.
• Power points of classes.
• DVDs of classes, taught by experienced teachers and made available for small churches, lacking teachers.
• Materials for small-group meetings, dealing especially with friendship evangelism and other lessons in outreach and teaching.
• Bible Character dolls and sets for 3-D lessons.
• Hands-on objects for cradle roll classes.
• DVDs to teach cradle roll teachers.
• Video games for:
  • Memorization of verses Learning Bible facts Paul’s journeys
  • Bible timeline

• “Into God’s World” Internet website for publishing the materials (printed and DVDs), worldwide.
• Development of materials for churches overseas.

We must permeate the lessons with these “Threads of Truth”:

Show God’s eternal purposes, His interaction with man. Stress the spiritual relationship with God, not just a form or a Sunday exercise with the rest of life being as secular as the lives of those around us who are not Christians.

Stress how God has dealt with man (through miracles, providence; how prayers are prayed; how prayers are answered). Be sure that “providence” is fully explained and understood, so that God’s work in this present time is not doubted. Miracles were God’s tool to authenticate a new message or messenger; providence is working within the laws of nature, using whatever tool He needs, to accomplish His goal; most of His work through the ages has been providential.

Show Christ as our Saviour, our Lord, our Brother; salvation is not the result of a person’s goodness or sacrifices but because the Christian has obediently washed himself in the blood of Christ in baptism.

Deal with the reality of God’s purposes through us; therefore our reason for being in the world.

Teach the oneness of God’s family and the fact that the relationship is a personal one, not dependent on any other person’s faithfulness. Explore and emphasize personal commitment and involvement.

Stress the necessity of evangelism and outreach by teaching and practicing.

Look for opportunities to make these emphases in every Bible story, thereby creating a new perspective for viewing the familiar scriptures.

Permeate all of the lessons with our five “P”s:

• Purity of life
• Purpose in this world
• Prayer
• Providence
• Passion for God

Our children must be taught from the cradle that they are special people — in the world, but not of the world. In today’s culture, sadly, statistics show that immodest dress, immorality, broken homes, and the gamut of the world’s sinful practices are almost as high in the church as in the population that does not claim to be Christian. How can we malign the Lord’s name in this way??? We must separate our children from those influences, building a barrier against them by teaching from the earliest ages that we belong to God, that we must live pure lives (setting the standard for their friends, rather than the other way around), that we are in this world to carry out God’s great purpose in our lives. Our children must learn, by our words and our lives, that prayer is a vital part of their existence, that God still works mightily through His providential overruling in response to our prayers, needs, and purposes. And we must set aflame, in the heart of every Christian, the passion for God that would enable him to choose God, even in the face of persecution and death.

Each lesson will have a definite purpose, a named goal in teaching, keeping always in mind the Gospel of Christ, its practice, and its propagation throughout the world in this generation. From the first level to the last level, we must instill the goal of being the first generation since the first century to evangelize the world, beginning with feeling responsible for the people in one’s own community and family. This is the treasure God has prepared from before the foundation of the world — the treasure He has committed to our care.

The lessons we plan will be neither “conservative” nor “liberal” nor “legalistic” but, rather, Biblical. They must be balanced, not a reaction to anything. If the Bible doesn’t provide the authority for a belief or practice, we won’t teach it. If it is a Biblical doctrine, we have the obligation to incorporate it into the spectrum. But the doctrine must be taught with understanding and explanation of why God asks this and what He is accomplishing by it.

With the moral and spiritual warfare Satan is waging against us, we can’t hope to win unless we are willing to take a strong, decisive stand for the truth. In today’s secular schools, children as young as kindergarten age are being taught that the homosexual lifestyle is all right. Those religious groups that hold on to their people begin at the earliest ages, teaching strongly definitive doctrine, thoroughly indoctrinating those young minds. We must be as wise as they; we must instill in our children the directives of God’s word from the earliest ages, before they are old enough to have to make decisions about a lifestyle or a marriage mate or parenting. If we wait until they are faced with those forks in the road, we will lose because their peers and the world will have already turned them to their way of thinking. Permeating the materials must be, not only definitive doctrinal truths, but also the moral and social applications that are the natural result of godliness. We also need to teach over-views of the Bible in chronological lessons.

“Into God’s World” Catalog

It is our intention to print a catalog, offering all of our materials at the lowest possible cost, and also contact information and coverage of other brotherhood tools, such as DVDs and studies developed by Focus Press, Apologetics Press, World Video Bible School, Christian Courier, House to House, Lads to Leaders, World Bible School, Gospel Broadcasting Network, Search for the Lord’s Way, DVDs and other materials offered by sound Christians so that it will serve as a resource information center for all that is available for use.

The classbooks, with colored illustrations (no cartoon art work), can be printed in China for about 1/4 what it would cost to print them here. What the nation of China can do to help the church will be worth far more to us than our little amount of money will be worth to their economy, so we should take advantage of whatever can be done there. In addition, a number of Christians currently work in China, and through them we should be able to locate the best factories for econominal development of the visuals and crafts that will be needed. CDs and DVDs can also be produced very economically, enabling us to use these tools in a great way. What an age we live in! God has supplied every needed tool to enable His people to fully evangelize the world in our generation. What a difference that will make!

We must not be lulled by doing “good” “busy work”, such as good gestures to nursing home folks, hospitals, etc., using all of our time getting ready to teach, but never teaching. Launch into really becoming involved with teaching and with guiding people to find Bible answers to their needs. A confronting, reproducing Christianity is the only kind that lives and brings happiness.

We must dig ourselves up out of this deadly rut of form and complacency. Christianity was never intended to be the religion for lazy or half-converted people. If those things are the measure of our commitment to God, we are in the wrong place.

Heaven is described as a place of rest from our labors. That doesn’t mean our never-ceasing effort to acquire more of this world’s goods. The inference is that only those who have labors to rest from will go there.

Christians experienced in writing, teaching, artwork, layout work, editing, proofreading, etc., who would like to volunteer to help develop these materials are urged to contact us at 1+(662) 283-1192 or Choate@WorldEvangelism.org.