PLEASE NOTE:
This is a digital book. Upon completion of your
purchase you will be emailed a link that will allow you to download the
file. This PDF file can be viewed on any PC or mobile device that has a
PDF reader.
Bishop Shelton L Beneby
pastor of the Toronto New Covenant Cathedral COGOP, writes out of his more than
40 years of experience as a program and policy developer in government and as a
community organizer.
The key point in Shape
the Future Now is that our nations have to make the care, education, and
training of our children priority.
There are three principal reasons for
this focus:
•
Children are our gift from God and the
hope for every generation;
•
Children are the largest group in our
population;
•
The physical, intellectual, emotional,
social and spiritual growth which occur during a child’s early years, determine
the child’s character as an adolescent and adult. Therefore, the right time to influence the character
of our children is during those early years.
Shape the
Future Now analyzes the challenges facing the younger generation today and
offers the church, and parents’ advice on how to be agents of change. It is the role of
caring parents, grandparents and older adults to impart knowledge and wisdom to
the young generation to help them understand the past, make decisions in the
present, and cultivate a vision for their life in the future.
Ultimately, when we connect with our
children, we are making a future of peace and love because:
•
We give our children a sense of
belonging;
•
We help our children establish their
familial, spiritual and cultural identities;
•
We transfer to our children the values
that will shape their lives and our future;
•
We enable our children to discover their
potential and purpose;
•
We give our youth a vision for their lives;
and
•
We establish a bulwark generation in the
present to counteract the work of the devil in the future.
The book is a
call to action and demands a response from Church Leaders, Policy Makers,
Community Organizers and Parents. It devises an action plan to help us respond
today to the call for shaping our future.
