A serious problem is planted in the pastoral home when the children living there do not actually embrace the faith for themselves but simply fulfill a role. Their quiet conformity is mistaken for genuine commitment. But the pretending will not last forever.

Chuck and Marge1, who served at an Evangelical Covenant Church, have finished raising their five children. Chuck is an articulate, ambitious man, the kind of person you'd expect to find in an advertising agency, which is where he started out after journalism school. Later on, he gave up his agnosticism at a Billy Graham crusade and, in 1963, entered seminary. His oldest child was thirteen, his youngest four when he became student pastor of a church in Illinois.

His wife is much quieter, the daughter of Finnish immigrants, who tends to think a long time before speaking. She is a good ballast for her energetic husband.

Both of them, however, plunged into the work of their parish with dedication and swept their children along in the tide. ...