Why
Worldview
Matters
By Dr. Josh Mulvihill
E
VERY PARENT, grandparent, and pastor I know all
want to see their children grow up to know, love, and
follow Jesus for a lifetime. We want our children to smell like
the scent of heaven and to spend eternity there.
Unfortunately, many Christian young people are unpre-
pared to navigate the tidal wave of unbiblical ideas that
confront them. We all know teenagers who have drifted
and walked away from Christ. We never think that person
could one day be our own child. When the pressure is
turned up, our children will struggle if they don’t have
confidence that comes from knowing what they believe and
why they believe it.
We are losing our children to the world at alarming
rates. Evangelical mega-churches pride themselves on an
attractional model that attempts to reach seekers with
the gospel while our children are evangelized into secular
humanistic thought by the very people we are trying to
reach. Who is doing a better job evangelizing children, the
world or the church? If we are honest, many churches are
struggling to pass on a deep and lasting, Bible-shaped faith
to future generations.
Parents and grandparents want the best for children, yet
passions and priorities are often out of order. Athletics,
academics, and the arts are often prioritized over the nurture
of a child’s faith. Children may end up at a prestigious
university or receive an athletic scholarship, but their faith
lags far behind and leaves them vulnerable to the deception
of the world. George Barna states, “A person’s worldview is
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primarily shaped and is firmly in place by the time someone
reaches the age of thirteen; it is refined through experience
during the teen and early adult years, and then it is passed on
to others during their adult life. Such studies underscore the
necessity of parents and other influencers being intentional
in how they help develop the worldview of children.” High
numbers of parents and grandparents are not developing
their child’s worldview, and the spiritual vacuum is filled
with cultural ideas and secular thought.
That’s why worldview matters. That phrase describes our
message to parents, grandparents, and pastors. Biblical
worldview is worthy of our attention and resources. Below
are six reasons why every family and church needs to help
children develop a biblical worldview.
A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW:
1. PROVIDES WISDOM FOR LIFE
When you have a parenting problem, where do you look
for answers? When you want to learn how to grandparent,
where do you turn for guidance? When you want teaching
methods, where do you look for ideas? When you have a
decision to make, where do you turn for wisdom?
The Bible claims to provide everything needed for salva-
tion in Jesus, growth into Christlikeness, and obedience to
God’s commands. The reformers called this sola Scriptora,
which translates to Scripture alone. The doctrine of suffi-
ciency is found in 2 Timothy 3:15-17: “The sacred writings
are able to make you wise for salvation in Christ Jesus ... and