Every converted child of God stands in a direct line of authority beneath God, answering to Him personally and not to the ministry or the church. The ministry and church sit off to the side of that line and have no direct authority over the individual. Within that line, parents answer directly to God for their children, so the spiritual education of children is the parent's solemn obligation and not the church's. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:19-21 address each individual Israelite, commanding that God's words be taught diligently to children at home, by the way, when lying down and rising up. Such rearing is a full-time, twenty-four-hour responsibility that the church cannot match. God knew Abraham would command his children and household after him to keep the way of the LORD (Genesis 18:17-19), and he did not pass that duty to anyone else. A parent stands in the place of God to the child, molding and shaping carnal character as God molds His children, which is why striking or cursing a parent carried the death penalty. The ministry's God-given task, according to Ephesians 4:11-14, is to equip the saints, meaning the parents, so they can carry out this work. The church is responsible for children only indirectly, through the parents. Shifting that duty to church programs inverts God's order, and Acts 5:29 says God must be obeyed rather than men. Parents who blame the ministry when their children leave the church overlook their own responsibility to decide what they permit in their lives. The key to success is the parent's own relationship with the Father.