How do we practically apply what the Bible says about raising up our young people? Well, the responsibility to raise up our young people begins in the home with the parents. We have discussed this in detail on the parents' side in the section: Parents especially in the sections called Basic Principle of Parenting and The Parents' Responsibility.

We want to present another wonderful dimension and resource to raising up our children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. First we need to see the goal. In brief, the Lord desires to raise up young people as pure human vessels that He can come into and fill with Himself for His desire. Second we need to see the means to reach the goal. The main way the Bible reveals to produce such young people is through the family. So where do "serving ones" fit in? Where do those who desire to work with young people fit in? On a kind of negative note we have a society which has deferred the spiritual care of young people to the church. In other words we hire youth coordinators or youth workers to raise up the young people spiritually. Even society does this. They hire youth directors to carry programs for the young people. On the positive side, it is a blessing for saints in the church to serve the young people, although they should never be a replacement for God's arrangement of the parents. The Lord has gifted and burdened many saints in the church to care for the young people for the Lord's interest. This is a real blessing to God's family.

There are myriads of ways the Lord could lead those who serve young people. We can have activities, meetings, one on one care, etc. The way depends on our seeking Christ in the Word and through the Spirit to get the Spirit's practical and specific leading with the particular young people we serve. However, we have discovered a "family pattern" in serving young people that parallels the care seen within a healthy family and it has great impact on the ones we serve. Let me use an illustration from the 1800's when the family unit was stable and strong, and marriage was highly honored in society. It was not unusual for the father to work in the fields or on the job all day long, the mother to cook and clean all day long and the children to take care of one another. Mom would care for the first baby intensely. When number two or three came along, the oldest was actively involved in caring for the new baby. As the family grew in number the responsibility of raising that family fell on all the family members.

The stories of "Little House on the Prairie" and "The Walton's" depict a healthy kind of care within a family unit. The father was the strong hand physically and in discipline, but more importantly he bore the testimony of the family. The family was in his name. The mother was the strong backbone to the whole family especially to uphold the family atmosphere as her husband's counterpart. The oldest children took care of the younger in an intimate way as a help to the family, raising them to fulfill their role in the family as sons or daughters. Sons would bear their father's name and testimony in the family. Daughters would be prepared to join another man for his family and testimony.

In serving our young people we should cultivate and administer that same kind of family atmosphere for the spiritual realm. The church, the Body of Christ, possesses tremendous resources in the saints of all ages whom the Lord can use to raise up the Lord's children for His testimony. The Lord's children, as sons of God, will bear His name, His testimony, and as fellow members in the Body of Christ will care for one another so that all His children become active members of the Body bearing the Lord's testimony.

What does a healthy, proper pattern of serving the young people look like? In principle, the older should take care of the younger. Specifically, we are speaking about a "family ladder" in Christ. The ladder has "rungs" comprised of the saints of various ages and maturity in life.

By the above picture, we see a "family ladder" of maturity in life in order to serve one another. Experience tells us that the closer the rungs are to each other on the ladder, the more impact that group has on the other group. With this in mind, parents, for example, should seek the aid of junior high and high school kids to help them with their own younger children. Parents with high school aged young people should pray that the Lord would bring college age and young working saints into their children's lives as a pattern of those who love and follow Christ and who are closer to their children's age.

Let's consider a specific age group and how the "family ladder" would look. When serving junior high aged young people, all the rungs of the family ladder should be present but especially the rungs nearest the age of the junior high young people. First, realize that junior high young people are capable of serving those younger than themselves. They are not too young. To serve others always develops productivity and responsibility in those who serve. Otherwise, they become self-centered and narrow in their person. Second, the junior high kids also admire those just a little older than themselves and emulate them. Therefore, high school and college young people are invaluable when working with junior high aged youth. When a seventh grader looks at a ninth or tenth grader who loves the Lord, they say, "Wow, if he/she loves the Lord, I want to also. If they can pray to the Lord, so can I. If they read their Bible, I want to also."

Children love their parents and usually desire deep within to please them, but parents are "too high up the ladder" for them to reach. They need to climb several rungs before they attain to where their parents are at. The high school and college aged saints provide the intermediary rungs on the "ladder of life" to encourage the younger ones. Another obvious consideration is the energy level of younger "serving ones" with our very active junior high kids. We parents just can't keep up with what kids need: lots of wholesome activity.

However, you still need the stability factor which comes only with maturity. There should also be young working saints and young couples involved along with young families and more mature families. All of these "rungs" on the "family ladder" form a strong, stable, attractive family atmosphere in cultivating our youth. This produces a balanced, stable atmosphere to allow the Lord a tremendous avenue to gain these young people. Without the parental "rung" of the family ladder, you lose the sanctifying influence that only maturity can bring. When parents are actively involved along with younger "serving ones" there are many less incidents of immorality and loose behavior. Of course, if only the parents are serving the kids, they tend to be too strict and not allow the children to grow through the process of life like they did!

What I have just shared with you is not some theoretical study done by Harvard PhD's. We have been involved with youth work for years and have implemented this kind of "family ladder" into our summer camps. The more "rungs" of the "family ladder" that are present and the more each rung is for the family, the more impact on the young people who are being served.

I have been in summer camps the past few years and parents and other saints have asked again and again how they can "bring home" what we do. Well, they can't bring home all the young people, the college saints, the working saints and families that we are blessed to have serving the children. However, they can realize that the "family" is a great picture of how to raise up our kids. They can find saints where they live who can spend time with them to care for their children. They can plan picnics and invite a range of saints according to age who would be positive examples to their children. The church is not just a matter of going to meetings. No. The church is the Lord's Body and should be our resource to raise up our children to become active members of that same Body for the Lord's testimony and the Lord's interest.