Children and Discipleship

As a church we believe that we were placed here on earth at  this time to know God and to make Him known to our children.

We  believe that  it  is our God-given right and parental duty to disciple our children and to pass on our Christian faith to them, to bring them up in the “nurture  and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).  

This responsibility is emphasized repeatedly throughout Scripture, from Moses’ command about God’s laws to “Impress them on your children” (Deuteronomy 6:4) to Paul’s admonition to “bring[children] up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

God has given us instructions in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 on how we are to disciple children to develop a sincere and personal faith in Jesus Christ, equipping them to recognize and celebrate the presence of God in their lives, and modeling how to live in grateful response to God’s love and grace.

But this requires intentional teaching and nurturing from us as parents and as a church family. We have to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul and strength and then role model what it is to love the Lord.

As parents we have to use every opportunity that arises to impress God’s love and His law on our children, to share from our heart our own faith and love for God.

In his book Transforming Chil­dren into Spiritual Champions George Barna writes,

“In situations where children became mature Christians we usually found a symbi­otic  partnership between their par­ents and their church. The church encouraged parents to prioritize the spiritual development of their children and worked hard to equip them for that challenge. Parents, for their part, raised their children in the context of a faith-based community that provid­ed security, belonging, spiritual and moral education, and accountability. Neither the parents nor the church could have done it alone.”

In today’s secular world where there are so many distractions and negative forces influencing our chil­dren, it is of utmost importance that parents and the church family collab­orates and intentionally, in everything they do, disciple the children to be­come strong, faithful followers of Je­sus.

Discipleship does not happen by itself. If we want to prepare the younger generation for eternity, parents and church have to combine their forces in a discipleship ministry for our children.

by Anne May Wollan

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