The role of “parent” is a huge privilege and a huge responsibility. We are tasked with raising contributing members of society who will be able to manage life and a family of their own someday. As Christian parents, we add another layer on top of that to disciple our kids in the way of Jesus. As if parenting wasn’t hard enough! There is good news: while discipling our children is mainly our responsibility, we are not in it alone; the church is here to partner with us.
In Deuteronomy 6:5-9 we are called to our role in discipling our kids as parents; it says, “5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
Let me give you three ideas to help you on this journey of discipleship.
- Model it!
- If you have kids who are old enough to talk, you know that they are sponges who soak up everything we do and say. They then go and wring out everything they’ve taken in without concern because they trust that if you said it or did it, it must be good. With that in mind, if we want to disciple our kids in the ways of Jesus, we have to be showing them what that looks like through our words and actions. This is basic, but it is the first step. This is a check for ourselves. Are we spending time in God’s Word, in prayer, and in small group? How do we talk to people on the street, while driving, at the store or restaurant when things aren’t right? Our kids are watching and eventually they’re going to regurgitate what they’ve seen and heard on other people, will you be proud of the way you’ve trained them?
- Teach it!
- This goes beyond just the routine, sometimes unintentional, training of modeling it and into the intentional and designated time of teaching our kids what the Bible says and teaches. “But isn’t this the church’s job? I don’t have any training to teach my kids about the Bible! I still have questions about it; how can I teach it?” These are all valid thoughts. However, the church’s responsibility is not to be the sole discipler of our kids, but a partner in the journey. One or two hours a week at Youth Group or in a main service isn’t enough. The verses from Deuteronomy above tell us that we should be talking about God at all times. It’s ok not to have all of the answers. In fact, some of the best teaching can come from searching God’s Word together to figure something out. Read the Bible together and pray together.
- One word of caution: Be careful about unloading your weighty questions or theological curiosities on your kids. There will come a time when you can have those discussions, but guard their hearts while you can!
- Be consistent!
- Just like most things in life, consistency is key. We all formed lifelong habits as kids, some good and some that we are still trying to break as parents. Let’s be parents who create and maintain spiritually healthy habits in our kids. Things like Bible reading, prayer, community, church attendance, personal evangelism, and more are important areas to help our kids begin their journey with the Lord.
“8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Let’s be parents who take the responsibility of discipling our kids seriously. Tie it on our hands, bind it on our foreheads, and write it on our houses because their futures are at stake!
Kyle Wood
Director of Operations and Communication
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash