A teenager may spend an hour listening to a sermon on Sunday.
That same teenager may spend dozens of hours each week consuming content selected by an algorithm.
One voice gets a few moments. The other gets access throughout the day.
That reality was at the center of a recent message from apostle Jim Raley, who challenged parents and grandparents to think differently about what is shaping the next generation.
“I want to tell you something. Your kids are being discipled every single day by screens, by friends, by cultures, by algorithms, by voices you never invited into your home,” Raley said.
“And the question is not whether or not this is happening. The question is, who has their ear?”
For years, Christians have talked about the importance of discipleship. Churches invest in youth ministries. Parents pray for their children. Pastors preach about spiritual formation.
Meanwhile, another disciple-maker has quietly moved into the home.
The algorithm.
The Disciple-Maker That Never Sleeps
Raley argued that many parents underestimate how much influence digital platforms have over their children.
“If you don’t disciple your children, screen time will, algorithms will,” he said.
Algorithms never stop speaking. They continually learn what captures attention and then serve more of it.
Children are learning lessons about identity, relationships, beauty, sexuality, truth and self-worth.
Raley asked a series of pointed questions.
“Who’s forming their imagination? Who’s teaching them what love really looks like? What relationship looks like? What marriage looks like? What sexuality looks like? What truth looks like? What real beauty looks like? What identity looks like? Who’s showing your family or your kids what gives a person worth?”
Those lessons are repeated every day.
And repetition is one of the most powerful tools of discipleship.
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Why the Battle Starts at Home
Raley pointed to Deuteronomy 6 as God’s blueprint for raising children.
The passage instructs parents to teach God’s truth throughout everyday life — while sitting at home, walking together, lying down and getting up.
The model is built around daily conversations.
“I want you to notice that the Lord didn’t say in that text, ‘Drop them off at a religious institution, drop them off and let some professionals handle it,'” Raley said.
“It doesn’t start at church.”
Faith, he said, belongs in ordinary family life.
“It needs to get in your home. Faith is designed to be part of your everyday life. Gets in the kitchen, in the school, at the table, in the den.”
The Great Disconnection
One of Raley’s strongest observations focused on how technology can separate families even while they occupy the same room.
“Social media has made people globally connected but locally disconnected,” he said.
“I’ve seen families sitting at dinner and I’ll watch them at the table. Five people, five screens, zero conversation.”
Every silent dinner table is a missed opportunity for discipleship. Conversations that once shaped values, convictions and faith are increasingly being replaced by screens.
Parents once shaped worldviews during car rides, around dinner tables and through bedtime conversations. Those moments remain some of the most effective opportunities for spiritual formation.
“A home is not a place where you just coexist and everybody lives in the same house, but you’re not building anything together,” Raley said.
The Battle for Influence
Raley called for intentional discipleship through boundaries, conversation, prayer and parental involvement.
“Boundaries are not a sign that you don’t trust your children. They’re a sign that you love them,” he said.
He also encouraged parents to move beyond interrogation and toward genuine connection.
“Conversation is better than interrogation.”
Parents who ask questions, listen carefully and speak biblical truth into everyday situations create opportunities to shape how their children think about life and faith.
The challenge, Raley argued, is influence.
Every child is being discipled by someone or something.
The question Christian families must answer is whether the loudest voice in a child’s life belongs to culture, an algorithm or Christ.
“You can’t let culture get louder in your home than conviction,” Raley said.
Parents often worry about what their children will face when they leave the house. Raley’s message turns that concern in a different direction. The greatest battle for the next generation may be happening every day on a device sitting in a child’s hand.
Algorithms are shaping a generation one click, one scroll and one video at a time. Parents cannot surrender that ground through neglect or distraction. Homes filled with truth, conversation, prayer and the presence of God remain one of the most powerful forces in a child’s life. If the next generation is going to follow Christ, someone has to have their ear first.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
