Throughout the last 2,000 years, churches have provided a wide variety of answers to community challenges. While the church has a single unifying directive (the great commission), the church is diverse in fulfilling that directive amid various times in history, cultures, and languages. 

Great Commission- Making Disciples

The great commission (see Matthew 28:18-20) centrally places the focus and intention of the church through all ages, across all languages and cultures. The goal of the church is to make disciples, teaching them (those disciples) all that Jesus has commanded and baptizing them (those disciples). The gospel remains the central driving theme of Christian efforts from the 1st century through the present day. 

In the broadest terms, there are two interrelated groups that the church interacts with: believers, and unbelievers. The great commission speaks to how the church views, relates and approaches each of these groups. For those who are not yet baptized believers, the church is to disciple those unbelievers in such a way that those unbelievers are confronted by their need for salvation in Jesus Christ, and instructed in the hope of the resurrection. For those who are baptized, instruction continues in the disciple-making process as the life of faith is then pursued in grateful thanks to God for the grace given in Christ. 

When making disciples two questions have risen throughout church history, where does the church go to meet potential new disciples? How is the church to gather outsiders so that they may come to know the grace of God in Jesus? 

These questions relate to the position and mobility of the church. In a more mobile church, outreach will involve intentional (and unintentional) discipleship of unbelievers beyond “official” gatherings of the church. In a more stationary church, outreach overlaps very much with “in reach”, as discipleship intentionally happens during official gatherings of the church. 

There are biblical examples of both more “mobile” and “stationary” approaches regarding discipleship throughout the scriptures. The question is not which of these two approaches is God sanctioned, but rather, what are the opportunities God uniquely put before the local church? 

For each church, the answer may be slightly different. However, for churches in the US, there is a common shared opportunity for making disciples over the last 4 years. 

New Opportunity for Making Disciples

Since 2020 the veneer of social expectation to attend church as a cultural Christian was ripped away. For many, their discipleship relationships disappeared as soon as obligation was removed. The challenge of dwindling church attendance and membership provides the chance to major on the majors and trim the fat. Churches can pander and compromise in an attempt to draw a crowd, or churches can put to the test the sincerity and depth of their faith. 

For many, 2020 was a time to reevaluate life choices. While many left the church, many also decided to leave a way of life that depended on the state. This is where the opportunity for making disciples comes in.

Homeschooling has been around for ages, but over the past 4 years has become a very popular form of education. According to the Washington Post, homeschooling in the United States has increased 51% over the past 6 years. They estimate that there are now between 1.9-2.7 million homeschoolers in our country. There are a variety of reasons why people have chosen homeschooling, but the takeaway is that people are choosing to homeschool over public and private schools. This change in education is a change in not just what is taught, but in the entire family structure. Our country is slowly moving back toward the roots of the family, with parents taking the responsibility to teach and train their children instead of the government.

Many of these homeschooling families are new to teaching their children at home. They have questions about daily practices, and they also are wondering about the age-old refrain “If we homeschool....will our kids grow up with no social skills or community?” The church can provide answers to these questions. The church has been specializing in education across multiple cultures, languages, and learning styles since the 1st century. The church offers a community in a way that secular institutions can't duplicate. 

When a community has questions, the church has an opportunity to serve humbly while teaching a new wave of disciples about who Jesus is and why He matters. The homeschooling community is no exception. While homeschoolers of past generations may have held Christian convictions, this new wave of homeschoolers emerging during 2020 was driven to bring kids home due to dissatisfaction with a secular motivation. That doesn't minimize the opportunity for making disciples, it increases it. 
Churches right now have a unique opportunity to serve homeschooling families who are seeking answers provided by sincere and knowledgeable communities. 

Challenge for Churches

I'll close today with a challenge and a story.

First, a challenge: What would it look like for your Church to begin making disciples among homeschoolers in your area? 

Next, a story. In late 2020 my family became a part of a new church in a rural area. We were the only homeschoolers many in the area had ever met. Within a year we had met more than 100 homeschoolers within an hour radius. Both our church and another church (about 40 minutes away) began hosting homeschool gatherings. Both hosting churches had minimal costs to having these new families gather in the church’s buildings. Both churches had massive opportunities to create relationships by providing volunteers to help run classes and social events. Within two years we saw some of those homeschoolers attending official church events for the first time in their lives. Questions about faith, life, death, and purpose came up as regular parts of conversation. 

Now the year is 2024. We've been a part of and helped 5 different churches launch and maintain regular homeschool gatherings. Churches can be either “mobile” or “stationary” in serving homeschoolers. There are a variety of approaches we have been blessed to witness in reaching homeschoolers. The one thing faithful churches cannot allow themselves to be - unresponsive to the great commission. 

As Christians we place a high value on welcoming the outsider, at one point we were outsiders and were welcomed in! Will we be welcoming of the opportunity to share who Jesus is and why He matters with homeschoolers? Will our churches continue the long-standing history of answering the questions and problems in our local communities? 

If you have questions about how to start reaching homeschoolers in your area, send us an email. We don't have all the answers, but we have been thankful to see churches in multiple states carry on their part in the great commission by making disciples of homeschoolers, teaching them all that Christ Jesus had commanded and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 

If you are looking for resources on starting a homeschool group download our FREE resource with everything from schedule ideas, student handbook, teacher contracts, class ideas, finding volunteers, and more.

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