A father's cruciform manifesto: 5

The more I think about it, the more self-evident it appears to me Christian parenting must be conducted in the way of the Cross. But it can’t be all that self-evident, or we wouldn’t have amongst us the Vision Forum. For the happily unaware, the Vision Forum is an organization much-beloved by a certain segment of the home-schooling community, particularly those interested in a reformed soteriology but not a presbyterian ecclesiology. Or much of an ecclesiology at all, as, so far as I can tell from their catalogue (which I didn’t ask for, but pastors get sent an awful lot of stuff in the mails whether they like it or not), there seems an unarticulated but clearly evident conviction the nuclear family is all- and self-sufficient.

From their website: "Our name — The Vision Forum — points to our desire that the Lord would use this work to be a forum for communicating a vision of victory to Christian families." I'm seriously concerned about the nature of the victory the Vision Forum has in mind. Victory over sin would be a good thing, of course, but flipping through their catalogue, the emphasis seems to be on victory over the society and culture around us. And the way to beat the snot out of said society is to turn one's children into culture warriors. So much for living quietly, minding one's own affairs (1 Thessalonians 4:11).

The presence of the Vision Forum catalogue in Christian homes gives me, as a pastor and a father, heartburn. There's something unnervingly worldly about the Vision Forum's anti-world vision. Again and again, one gets the impression each Christian family should be building a legacy which will endure for generations to come; not only that, they should be actively engaged in transforming the culture and reshaping it according to their liking. In other words, they are about building a name and a city for themselves and claiming a country in this world, during this age: a country which they hope, and even believe, will endure.

But this present age is passing away.

And as for me and my house, we are also seeking a country of our own, but not that country from which we came out. Rather, we desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore we are not ashamed of the Cross of Christ; for the God who became despised and nothing has called us to be likewise despised and nothing. He has invited us to live as aliens and strangers in this world. He has not invited us to build a city here because he has prepared a city with foundations for us.