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It
is becoming more and more difficult, it seems, to raise children
right these days. There are pressures that target our young coming
from many different directions. We are all aware of what is at stake:
the well being and discipleship of our children. God emphasizes the
importance of teaching children in the home setting many times in
Scripture (for example Deuteronomy
6:6-7).
The
question is, how do you plan on doing it? If we do not disciple our
kids then surely the world will. Here at Hopeful we realize the
importance of discipling your kids and so we’ve put together a
few resources to help you along the way. Please feel free to contact
our church office if you have any questions.
A
great place to start is prayer. Begin the discipleship process by
praying for your children. Pray that they would be open to learning
about spiritual matters and that their desire to know God and His
Word would grow. Resources detailing how to pray for your kids can be
found here
if you are interested.
The
next step is to help facilitate your kids’ walk with the Lord
by praying with them and opening God’s Word with them daily.
This does not need to take more than 15 minutes a day. Praying with
your family is as simple as praying before a meal. Teach your
children to pray by modeling the Lord’s prayer: begin with
worship (Matthew
6:9-10), then confession, thanksgiving, and supplications (prayer
requests). Facilitating your kids growth in God’s Word daily is
just as easy. At Hopeful we have already passed out and hopefully the
children are already using Child
Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) 60-day devotionals.
Those devotionals are meant for elementary-age children. If your
child is not elementary age then here are some age-appropriate
devotionals
and Bibles. You can always ask what your child learned in their
daily devotional that day, and even offer to read through it together
before bedtime. Or you could take your family through the passage
from the previous sermon or Sunday School lesson. If you are
interested in doing your own separate Bible study for your family
then that is great and we would like to provide some resources to
help you do that. The Serendipity
Bible is meant for just that as it has intro, discussion, and
application questions for each passage. You can also use the PECSKA
resource available.
Growing
Families International (GFI.org)
provides invaluable approaches to parenting that are based on
time-tested insights from Scripture. Their resources (overview
of them here) provides parents with best approaches and helpful
parenting solutions for each phase your kids go through, from birth
through their teenage years. The authors and founders, Gary and Annie
Marie Ezzo, are also well known for their Parentwise
books.
As
you prayerfully engage your family’s spiritual wellbeing, your
own spiritual wellbeing is of utmost importance and influence in your
child’s own spiritual development. Your attempts to direct them
along the godly path will be magnified if they see you take your own
walk with the Lord seriously. And we are here to help. We offer a
community of worship that we want you and your family to feel
comfortable in. We are all on a spiritual journey to glorify God
through our lives. If you have any questions about any of these
resources please don’t hesitate to ask. Taking charge of your
family’s spiritual health will reap great eternal rewards. What
is more important than passing on your faith to the next generation?
Additional
Resources:
Here
is a list of additional
resources on Amazon.
The
ministry of Worldview Weekend has produced some excellent materials
for developing a Biblical worldview in students that are on their
book
webpage. They have even developed a book
for those going to college. Another good resource for the
college-bound is the Focus on the Family project TrueU.org.
Ray
Comfort of Living Waters ministry reminds us in his message ‘True
and False Conversion’ that making sure our children our
saved is important.
Additional Links:
www.whitsend.org
www.JellyTelly.com
www.Wonderzone.com
http://www.answersingenesis.org/kids
www.clubhousemagazine.com
www.thrivingfamily.com
Focus
on the Family put together this
webpage having to do with your family’s safety online (and
Netnanny.com is also a good
family filter).
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