George Whitefield

Recently I listened to Michael Haykin's lecture on George Whitefield. Haykin identifies one of the key distinctions of Whitefield's ministry as emphasis on the new birth. In Whitefield's day, it was a needed message because of the widespread belief in baptismal regeneration coupled with infant baptism. (The two put together mean that if you're baptized as an infant, you're born again, whether or not you experience any of that reality, or bear any fruit in life.) Needless to say, it was also a controversial, and challenging word.

It strikes me that this emphasis is no less needed today, but for different reasons. Whereas the evangelical church has widely (although not completely) rejected baptismal regeneration, there is a a strong tradition of decisionism, in which the decision of a person to "receive Christ" is given the same categorical authority of baptismal regeneration. If a person has "prayed the prayer", they're "saved" regardless of whether they experience any of the reality of Christ, or bear any fruit in life. We desperately need to recover the reality that Whitefield so persistently taught: you must be born again - born from above.

What does this have to do with parenting? Everything. It means that what we desire for our kids is not merely that they pray a prayer, or make a decision, or receive baptism (although we do want all three). What we want is something that only God can do: give them new life. That puts prayer at the center of parenting, and destroys our arrogant illusions of being able to raise good children by clever parenting techniques alone.