Posted: 02/07/07

Make Worldview Training a Sweet Deal for Your Kids
By Brannon S. Howse

Incentives. Parents use them all the time so kids will do certain things. Eat your vegetables, or you don't get dessert. Do your homework if you want to watch TV. Keep your grades up, or you won't be playing sports or driving the car (dads and moms like this one because having an honor roll student in the family means lower car insurance rates).

We give our kids incentive to do things that are in their best interests, knowing they might not do them otherwise. Unfortunately, even many Christian parents are more concerned about good grades that hold down the price of car insurance than about the spiritual price their student will pay in life because home has not taught them a solid Christian worldview. Parents too often neglect the scriptural commands to train their children in Biblical principles (see Deuteronomy 4:9, 6:6-7, 32:46; Psalms 78:3-8; II Timothy 2:2; Judges 2:7-14).

Consider, though, why worldview training is so important. Where do most Christian students get their perspective on history and sociology or learn about the question of origins? The frightening reality is that most take in the steady diet of Secular Humanism served up in our public schools. And in college, it only gets worse.  Worldview Weekend speaker Kerby Anderson puts it this way:

When a student enrolls in Philosophy 101, it could just as easily be called Atheism 101. A class in Sociology 101, should really be called Postmodernism 101.  A class on Religion 101, is really a class that should be called Religious Pluralism 101. And a class in Biology 101, would more accurately be called Evolution 101.

It's little wonder that more than three out of four young people from Christian homes deny their faith before graduating from college. Parents have not prepared their children to counter the lies of Secular Humanism, the New Age Movement, and bizarre forms of mysticism finding their way into our churches. The apathy of parents is enormously discouraging to those of us who study cultural trends and know what the future holds for students attending college or entering the workforce directly from high school.

So what can you do to keep your kids from becoming one of the fall-away statistics?

Incentives, again. I'll tell you how it works at the Howse house.

Although my 10-year-old son owns a few computer games (that I've approved), he is not allowed to play them unless he earns computer time from me. Landon gets to play the computer by completing specified reading assignments. To be sure he reads and understands what he should, I require him to fill out a worksheet for every chapter. Each successfully completed worksheet gains him a round of computer play. His reading assignments, of course, are in Christian worldview books, and by the time Landon graduates from high school, he will have read several hundred books I handpicked for him. He'll be a custom graduate of the Brannon Howse Worldview Institute.

Do you have a worldview institute in your home? If you have children or grandchildren, you should.

Worldview Weekend and other like-minded organizations have spent thousands of hours and thousands of dollars to develop the resources necessary for you to do all the at-home worldview training your children need. We offer DVDs, CDs, mp3, streaming audio and video-even computer games- so parents can create their own in-home worldview institute.

You wouldn't let your student get a driver's license unless he or she had the requisite hours of training and practice, along with a clear understanding of the dangers that await them each time they get behind the wheel. Caring parents teach teens to avoid the potentially deadly consequences of reckless and un-defensive driving. Why, then, would anyone allow students to endure high school or college without preparing them to counter the seductive worldviews that grope after their hearts and minds? Worldviews that oppose Christianity come with dire results in life both now and forever.

So how about giving some thought to a popular incentive toward worldview training before your teen wraps up his or her high school years and heads to college? Have your student complete Worldview Weekend's 12-week course as part of your in-home qualifications for getting a driver's license. Many parents find such an incentive starts simply as a necessary prerequisite for driving but ends up turning students into heartfelt workers for Christ who are in no way ashamed of the Gospel.

During the first two years of offering our worldview course, more than 1,200 students enrolled, and the feedback has been extremely encouraging. To make sure your student has the tools necessary to defend the faith in our increasingly toxic culture, click here for a free demo of our online institute (we offer special family and group rates).

I'll conclude by adding a special note to grandparents: If you cannot get your grown children to take seriously the need to provide Christian worldview training for your grandchildren, then why not offer grandkids your own incentives for completing the worldview course? Sign them up, and reward them when they complete the study. The impact you have on your grandchildren by taking some ownership in their spiritual growth could be your greatest legacy.

By Brannon Howse Email: Brannon@worldviewweekend.com Click here for bio and archived articles