According to a recent Barna report on
spiritual conversations in a digital age,
children who grow up regularly talking
about faith and seeing their parents
integrate faith into everyday life are
much more likely to continue being
actively engaged in their faith as they
grow older. In other words, parents who
are eager to talk with their kids about
spiritual matters raise kids who are
likewise eager. While we often think of
sharing faith as something we do with
strangers or non-Christian friends, some
of the most significant and impactful
conversations happen in the familiar
context of home.
Those of us who are parents know this is
easier said than done.
I’m the mother of four children between
the ages of 4 and 12. This last spring after
school and sports ended, every room in
my house needed major work—
organizing, vacuuming, and cleaning. The
clothes in my laundry room seemed to be
crawling to the washing machine on their
own.
One morning, I heard my youngest
daughter call out, “Mom, there’s a big
glob of SunButter on the kitchen floor!”
We didn’t eat any SunButter today or
yesterday , I thought. I headed straight for
the kitchen. While wiping up the mess, I
noticed how much the floor needed
mopping. One thing led to another and
before I knew it, I organized, vacuumed,
cleaned, and organized more until the
day was almost over. Although my
cleaning efforts were understandable, I
failed to spend time—even a little time—
discipling those to whom Christ has
called me: my kids.
In one sense, it seems odd to think of our
children as a strategic ministry objective
from God; they’re not strangers living in
a different culture in a different part of
the world. But parents are statistically
the most lasting influence on faith,
which means our children need to hear
the Good News from us on a regular
basis. Each day, parents function as
ministers—missionaries, even—to a
native people we alone have intimate
knowledge of and access to.
As a mother, I often struggle to sense the
eternal importance of my mission. When
did a joyful opportunity to minister
become burdensome? How does a God-
inspired passion for others become an
obligation? The harvest may be plentiful,
but the parents are routinely tired and
discouraged (Matt. 9:37).
Just last week, I sat down with a large,
hot cup of coffee in one hand, some books
in the other, and two restless kids by my
side, hoping to read stories and a
children’s devotion. Halfway through the
first story, my six-year-old interrupted to
inform me she would no longer eat candy
in the shape of a Lego brick. Before I
could respond, the train was off the track
as the two children digressed into their
own private conversation about candy-
eating habits.
Even when I do find uninterrupted time
to disciple my children, I often think of it
as just another repetitious task like
loading the dishwasher. But teaching
children the Good News is one of the most
effective ways to follow Jesus’
instructions to “go and make disciples of
all nations” (Matt. 28:19). I have a
mission field alive and growing right
under my own roof, and making time for
spiritual formation is part of my call to
raise eternal beings for eternal purposes.
We find this call in Scripture. Paul’s
letter to the Romans instructs believers to
claim what they know to be true about
the gospel: namely, that the Good News of
redemption is for everyone. He
underscores his confidence in the
believers in Rome who were “filled with
knowledge and competent to instruct one
another” (Rom. 15:14). Similarly,
parents, too, are competent to teach the
gospel. It isn’t just another task—it is
perhaps the one task that defines us as
parents who follow Jesus, and the eternal
importance of it brings great joy.
Just as God gave Paul “the priestly duty of
proclaiming the gospel” to the Gentiles,
God gives mothers and fathers the priestly
duty of proclaiming the gospel to children
(Rom. 15:16) so they might become an
offering acceptable to him. Although we
often feel discouraged and thwarted,
nonetheless we press on, knowing that
what matters most is not how successfully
we tell our children the Good News on
any given day but rather how
consistently we do it over time. When we
pray with our children before bed, read
Bible stories, and sing worship songs
together, we invite God into the lives of
our children, trusting that he is faithful
to redeem and sanctify them by the Holy
Spirit.
As we think about the Western church in
an age of rising secularism, we often cast
our gaze outward, as we should, toward
those “out there” who are leaving the
faith and departing the Body. But we also
need to cast our gaze inward toward our
own homes, understanding that
discipleship and evangelism begin right
here, in mundane routines and familiar
spaces. The future of the church depends
upon it.
For parents, the beauty and vitality of
sharing the Good News with our children
is in “preach[ing] the gospel where Christ
was not known, so that [we] would not be
building on someone else’s foundation.
Rather, as it is written: ‘Those who were
not told about him will see, and those
who have not heard will
understand’” (Rom. 15:20–21).
spiritual conversations in a digital age,
children who grow up regularly talking
about faith and seeing their parents
integrate faith into everyday life are
much more likely to continue being
actively engaged in their faith as they
grow older. In other words, parents who
are eager to talk with their kids about
spiritual matters raise kids who are
likewise eager. While we often think of
sharing faith as something we do with
strangers or non-Christian friends, some
of the most significant and impactful
conversations happen in the familiar
context of home.
Those of us who are parents know this is
easier said than done.
I’m the mother of four children between
the ages of 4 and 12. This last spring after
school and sports ended, every room in
my house needed major work—
organizing, vacuuming, and cleaning. The
clothes in my laundry room seemed to be
crawling to the washing machine on their
own.
One morning, I heard my youngest
daughter call out, “Mom, there’s a big
glob of SunButter on the kitchen floor!”
We didn’t eat any SunButter today or
yesterday , I thought. I headed straight for
the kitchen. While wiping up the mess, I
noticed how much the floor needed
mopping. One thing led to another and
before I knew it, I organized, vacuumed,
cleaned, and organized more until the
day was almost over. Although my
cleaning efforts were understandable, I
failed to spend time—even a little time—
discipling those to whom Christ has
called me: my kids.
In one sense, it seems odd to think of our
children as a strategic ministry objective
from God; they’re not strangers living in
a different culture in a different part of
the world. But parents are statistically
the most lasting influence on faith,
which means our children need to hear
the Good News from us on a regular
basis. Each day, parents function as
ministers—missionaries, even—to a
native people we alone have intimate
knowledge of and access to.
As a mother, I often struggle to sense the
eternal importance of my mission. When
did a joyful opportunity to minister
become burdensome? How does a God-
inspired passion for others become an
obligation? The harvest may be plentiful,
but the parents are routinely tired and
discouraged (Matt. 9:37).
Just last week, I sat down with a large,
hot cup of coffee in one hand, some books
in the other, and two restless kids by my
side, hoping to read stories and a
children’s devotion. Halfway through the
first story, my six-year-old interrupted to
inform me she would no longer eat candy
in the shape of a Lego brick. Before I
could respond, the train was off the track
as the two children digressed into their
own private conversation about candy-
eating habits.
Even when I do find uninterrupted time
to disciple my children, I often think of it
as just another repetitious task like
loading the dishwasher. But teaching
children the Good News is one of the most
effective ways to follow Jesus’
instructions to “go and make disciples of
all nations” (Matt. 28:19). I have a
mission field alive and growing right
under my own roof, and making time for
spiritual formation is part of my call to
raise eternal beings for eternal purposes.
We find this call in Scripture. Paul’s
letter to the Romans instructs believers to
claim what they know to be true about
the gospel: namely, that the Good News of
redemption is for everyone. He
underscores his confidence in the
believers in Rome who were “filled with
knowledge and competent to instruct one
another” (Rom. 15:14). Similarly,
parents, too, are competent to teach the
gospel. It isn’t just another task—it is
perhaps the one task that defines us as
parents who follow Jesus, and the eternal
importance of it brings great joy.
Just as God gave Paul “the priestly duty of
proclaiming the gospel” to the Gentiles,
God gives mothers and fathers the priestly
duty of proclaiming the gospel to children
(Rom. 15:16) so they might become an
offering acceptable to him. Although we
often feel discouraged and thwarted,
nonetheless we press on, knowing that
what matters most is not how successfully
we tell our children the Good News on
any given day but rather how
consistently we do it over time. When we
pray with our children before bed, read
Bible stories, and sing worship songs
together, we invite God into the lives of
our children, trusting that he is faithful
to redeem and sanctify them by the Holy
Spirit.
As we think about the Western church in
an age of rising secularism, we often cast
our gaze outward, as we should, toward
those “out there” who are leaving the
faith and departing the Body. But we also
need to cast our gaze inward toward our
own homes, understanding that
discipleship and evangelism begin right
here, in mundane routines and familiar
spaces. The future of the church depends
upon it.
For parents, the beauty and vitality of
sharing the Good News with our children
is in “preach[ing] the gospel where Christ
was not known, so that [we] would not be
building on someone else’s foundation.
Rather, as it is written: ‘Those who were
not told about him will see, and those
who have not heard will
understand’” (Rom. 15:20–21).
Comments