Like we said: 1 Samuel is the Bible’s first `leadership manual`, and the common factor in its first two stories is raising up godly children – or not. This is where leadership often starts. So these two weeks’ postings are collecting helpful ideas I’ve encountered…
Helping our children get a heart for prayer: A C T S is a good structure to teach: Adore God, Confess sin, Thank God, [and only then!] ask for Stuff… A vital aim is for them to catch confidence in the value of prayer, that good things won’t happen unless we pray (James 4:2). So keep a book of answered prayers; have them do the writing (or drawing!)
Pray yourself in a way they can copy – naturally, wherever we are; in short sentences; giving good examples of the kinds of things we pray for, and of thankfulness. Maybe pray around the meal table, each family member doing one sentence. Make praying with them your automatic response to things that happen; when a family member has a problem, pray about it, and when God helps us, thank Him!
Pray for their concerns, not yours, and for the place where they are called to live for God. Cultivate variety: use the Lord’s Prayer; pray for not-yet-Christian friends; pray for issues their friends are facing; pray for the church, for its evangelism and its preachers; pray for our missionaries… And many kids react positively to praying for persecuted Christians.
Help them get a heart for evangelism. Prayer is where this starts too; praying for people by name, and for friends they could invite to a holiday Bible club, or carol service. Make sure they have any resources they might want to give away to friends – gospels? Why Jesus booklets? Look for ways of doing some outreach as a family, for example leafletting or a barbecue with the neighbours. But be aware of your children’s personality – an introvert will need to grow in this kind of thing very differently from an extrovert.
Immediately they go to secondary school the curriculum may challenge them as to whether their faith is reasonable, particularly on science & faith, evolution, sexuality, and world religions. Think what you want to help them grasp about these issues, and look for chances that summer to talk them through.
Help them get a heart for church commitment: If you’re giving thanks for a meal or praying at bedtime, include a prayer for something important at church. On holiday, make the effort to show we feel it’s a priority to find God’s people to worship with and hopefully encourage – providing you‘ve got enough information (eg from that church’s website) to be mildly confident it won’t be a disaster! www.eauk.org/churchsearch is a good resource. In the end, however, they will need to develop an expression of biblical faith that is their own, and it may well be slightly different from ours. As they grow older as teenagers, help them find Christian contexts – events, festivals – that are not yours. (Pastors’ kids especially may need to go to a different church.)
Of course the most important thing is that each child needs to be brought – by God, not us! – to repentance and faith, to forgiveness and new birth. Telling a conversion story may open the way for them to tell you `I’m not sure if I’m a Christian`. Or reading the crucifixion may give you the chance to ask (gently!), perhaps at bedtime, whether they’ve ever received Christ and His forgiveness for themselves. Be ready (pray as a couple!) with what you’re going to say when eventually God provides that opportunity. Keep a Why Jesus booklet in the house! Sometimes talking about the different religions of classmates can provide the same opportunity (`But you can’t be born a Christian, you have to decide….!`)
Lastly, remember your authority before God to bless your children. Especially at important times in their life – starting a school term, a birthday, their spiritual birthday, the new year…
PS See if you like this site: kitchentable.org.uk…
