Remember the Minnesota Vikings commercial for Samsung flat screen TVs from a few years back?  A young father begins the voiceover as he is shown teaching his son how to use carpentry tools:

“It's a big moment in a boy's life.  A rite of passage really.  When you can look him in the eye, and you know, he's ready . . . “

The scene shifts to dad and boy sitting side by side on a leather sofa.  Opening the lid of an old trunk, the man unveils a Viking helmet complete with white pointed horns and gently gives it to his son.  “Time to grab manhood by the horns,” the voiceover continues as the boy excitedly puts the helmet on.

“Honor. Pride. Integrity. These are the sort of things you feel when you wear this helmet.”

The man, now wearing his own helmet, hands his son the remote control.  The boy looks at the remote, then his dad and asks "Really?" 

"Yeah," says his teary eyed dad. 

The boy dramatically points the remote toward the big flat screen TV on which a Minnesota Vikings game is in progress.  The dad, overcome with emotion, puts his arm around his son and watches the game as his voice continues to explain the significance of the event . . .

“It's the job of a father to instill values in his son.”

As dad talks, the scene cuts to his young son looking at an old picture of his grandfather and his father (then a boy) with their Viking helmets on.

“And in this house, we value the Minnesota Vikings.”

Now back to father and son on the couch.  Dad says,

“The NFL.  That's how I see it.”

The young father turns away from his son, again broken up with emotion and with quivering lip says, "Viking pride, man."  His son lovingly hits dad on the leg and says "It's OK, dad."

The end.

You might think this is another of those sarcastic caricatures of American culture that marketers use to make a point, but this commercial is based on a real family.  I found the following information about the family this commercial imitates on the Samsung website (link no longer available):  “A ritual has been passed down from the generation to generation, where the males of the clan don an actual Viking helmet as they watch the game together.  Part of this ritual includes the fabled 'knocking of the horns' to celebrate a good play by the boys in purple.  The final act of this entry into manhood is the ceremonial passing of the remote."

What would the next generation look like if today’s Christian parents took the discipleship of their children this seriously?  Yes, I know, some do, but many aren’t bringing up their children in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord” at all (Ephesians 6:2).  Too many of us think “it’s the job of the church to instill Christian values in our children.”   I’m a pastor of youth and discipleship and I still struggle to disciple my own children. 

In the past our church’s Youth Membership Training (what some would call “communicants class”) was led solely by a pastor, with parents only making sure their kids did their homework assignments.  But with our elders’ permission we have changed the program to require parents to lead their children through six weeks of training at home, followed by three weekly sessions at the church building led by me.  My own twelve-year-old twins are two of the students going through the process, so I reassured the other parents at our orientation meeting, “Look.  I’ve never done this before either.  We’re going to go through this together.”

I’ve received both positive and negative feedback about our change in philosophy.  I’m encouraged that many are excited, although nervous, to dive in.  But nerves or not, the fact is the Bible holds parents responsible for the discipleship of their children (Deuteronomy 6; Ephesians 6:2).  The good news for parents, however, is that the Bible also holds the church responsible for equipping the parents to fulfill this ministry (Ephesians 4:11-16).

Over the next few weeks on my portion of the Centurions Blog here at Worldview Church, I will post thoughts, quotes, suggested reading, and other resources for church leaders and parents as together we hand the helmet of salvation over to our kids.

Come on parents and pastors, it’s time to grab family discipleship by the horns.

JIMMY DAVIS loves being married to Christine, with whom he shares the joy of raising three great kids and a miniature dachshund named Luther. Jimmy is the Associate Pastor for Youth and Discipleship at Metrocrest Presbyterian Church in Carrollton, TX. In over 20 years of ministry he has served as youth and college pastor in various churches, as a regional youth ministry consultant, a church planter, and has taught Bible courses on the high school and college level. He teaches high school Bible part-time at Trinity Christian Academy in Addison, TX, is an Associate Editor of the Worldview Church, the author of Cruciform: Living the Cross-Shaped Life which is due to be released April 1, 2011 by CruciformPress, and maintains the Cruciform Life Blog.