June 2013
June 2012
By Mark Earley
healthy fathers apart from Jesus bringing new life. Let us all remember how our heavenly Father loves us, and recommit ourselves to praying for a revival of fatherhood. And most importantly, let us love our own sons and daughters in the sacrificial way God first loved us.
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very child asks two questions: “Who is God?” and “Who am I?” God’s plan is that fathers should be on the frontlines in answering those two questions—with their lives and with their lips. What happens then when fathers become a vanishing breed? Simply put, chaos erupts in homes, communities, and nations. In our nation’s capital the percentage of out-of-wedlock births now stands at nearly 57.6 percent. Nationwide, it is estimated that 34.5 percent of children are being raised without a father present in their lives.
10 Do’s & Don’ts for Dads p. 7
In the Church, how many fathers intentionally pass on to their children the legacy that is theirs in Christ? Too few. Fathers wait for the church, the parachurch, the school, or someone else to do it for them. This is an abdication of
"What happens then when fathers become a vanishing breed? Simply put, chaos erupts..." their God-given responsibilities. We are failing our children. In the latest research done by George Barna, 60 percent of
“Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.” Deuteronomy 32:7 (NIV) Mark Earley is president of Prison Fellowship.
20-somethings who were involved in church as teenagers no longer practice their faith (attend church, read the Bible, or pray). The most tragic evidence of the chaos being created in our nation by the lack of fathers or poor fathering is found in the prisons. More than 60 percent of prisoners grew up in households without a father. Some 70 percent of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes. Far too many of the women I meet in prisons were victims of abuse at their father’s hands. When I go into prisons, it breaks my heart that this lack of fathering bubbles under the surface of all the dysfunction. It breaks my heart that fathers who were intended to lead their children to an awe-filled awareness
of God are instead dropping their children off at the gates of hell. In our ministry, Prison Fellowship, we teach men how to be fathers again. We help them reconnect and reconcile with their children. In short, we help them live as men were meant to
“Some 70 percent of juveniles in stateoperated institutions come from fatherless homes.”
Faith Christian H.S. Graduates! p. 11
live: bringing life-giving hope and truth to their children throughout their lives. As go fathers, so go families, so goes a nation. There is no way to recover
The Ambassador
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