Today's Guest Blog is brought to you by Steve Johnson. Steve is a family ministry consultant and the founder of Etchea Coaching. Steve continues the series on the challenges facing the family today.
Let
holy grandmothers and gracious mothers, with their husbands, see to it that
their own boys and girls are well taught in the Word of the Lord. --CS
Spurgeon, Spiritual Parenting
Parents need not be afraid.
Christian parents, as people empowered by the Holy Spirit, have much to offer
their children. Much that a church staff member can’t come close to
replicating.
Christian parents have
Access
Intimacy
A shared story
Parents have access that a pastor
cannot have when the children of his church wake up in the morning. Access that
connects the parent to the child driving from one life event to the next.
Access when the child is hurting, broken or celebrating a success, big or
small. Access gives great opportunity to parents.
Finally, parents have a story to
tell. Their story, whether their children came by birth or adoption, is now
also part of their child’s story. We call this story, heritage. It’s important
because it gives a child as sense of belonging. Belonging is important because
it provides a context for God’s love to work in a child.
Parents can use a number of
resources to compensate for their lack of formal Bible education. Resources
like the Family Time Activities books, Bible commentaries, or materials that
come home with the children from church classes.
I am reminded of your
sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother
Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 2 Timothy 1:5
Can you tell us a question you've asked your child, a comment you've made, or an activity you've done that's generated spiritual dialogue with your child?
Can you tell us a question you've asked your child, a comment you've made, or an activity you've done that's generated spiritual dialogue with your child?
I thought it might be good to clarify why Steve and his family are dressed in such colorful outfits in the last picture in this article. They had just completed a "color run" when you get dusted with color! I hear it's a great family activity! Anyone else done a color run?
ReplyDeleteThanks for clarifying Ed. The Color Run was a blast of a time, but my car still has a rainbow of colors. We did it as a family and with a good number of friends. No serious runners here.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this wonderful post. I enjoyed reading the article and I've also learned a lot from it. I do this by reading to my kids religious books and we do it mostly before bedtime or in the middle of the afternoon. He always enjoys listening to religious stories and we talk about the moral lessons that he has learned after every story. :)
ReplyDeleteJanet, Thanks for your kind words and your passion for teaching your children. Religious stories are a great tool, of course, start with reading the Bible. Especially, as your children grow, you'll want to interact with non-religious stories, too. You can be a model to your children as you read religious stories and as you interact with the world in faith. By this Friday, I should have a post on my blog, http://etchea.com/blog, about how to help children interact with the world. I think it will be interesting.
ReplyDeleteThanks for encouraging parents to lead spiritually. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 is a wonderful promise to parents - "Faithful is He who called you Who will also do it." He called us to the overwhelming task of parenting that little boy or girl, but He promises to do the job through us! How comforting is that! - I couldn't have parented without this assurance!
ReplyDelete