Josh Wilks said there’s a big need for realizing that the Great Commission is not the “great suggestion” — everyone who is a follower of Christ is called to make disciples.
And that includes making disciples of their children, Josh Wilks said.
That’s what inspired him to write D-Life for Families, a book that guides parents through the New Testament in 52 weekly segments.
“I wanted to create something that is practical and gets people reading and discussing the Bible,” said Josh Wilks, college and young adult pastor at Valleydale Church in Birmingham.
His father, Bill Wilks — pastor of NorthPark Baptist Church in Trussville — started D-Life 10 years ago as a way to help fellow followers of Christ fulfill the Great Commission. D-Life offers a simple, reproducible way of training up disciples using only the Bible as a textbook.
‘As we go’
Josh Wilks said he had used his dad’s “fantastic curriculum” for years while discipling college students and young adults. But as his family expanded to include three small children, he started thinking about a way to make that curriculum applicable for families.
“It’s unrealistic for a busy family to sit down and go through an extensive curriculum every day,” he said.
D-Life for Families offers a way for families to read and discuss the Bible together. The book guides them to read a passage, paraphrase it and talk through three or four discussion questions. It also provides a prompt to help families serve together in some way once a month and to go get ice cream together when they finish a book of the Bible.
“Our kids are still young, so a lot of times our time in the Bible is an ‘as we go, let’s discuss,’” Josh Wilks said, noting that that can be while the kids are having bath time or while the family is driving somewhere. “The goal is to get parents discussing the Bible with their children in a habitual, intentional way.”
Intentional
Bill Wilks said there has not been a time in history when family discipleship has been more important than it is now.
“Discipleship begins in the home, and it must be intentional,” he said. “Parents cannot begin too soon to teach their children a biblical worldview. D-Life for Families is a very simple, practical and biblical tool to assist them with this.”
He noted that the book could be used as a standalone tool or in conjunction with the D-Life Journal for New Testament 1. He also encouraged anyone interested in more training in personal and family discipleship to consider attending the Alabama Statewide D-Life Boot Camp on Nov. 18 at NorthPark Baptist.
For more information or to register for this event, visit livethedlife.com/bama.
For more information or to purchase dLife for Families, visit shop.ironstreammedia.com/d-life-for-families/.
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