At Home with God

One generation ago, the value system for children was, generally speaking, consistent in a child’s life. School, church and home all shared common Christian values (though not necessarily beliefs) and spoke openly about them. This is no longer the case for most of our children. The world they are growing up in is now vastly different. As Christian parents, raising our children, there may be times when the value system of the school not only fails to support, but actively opposes the values we are seeking to instil in our children. Many parents have approached us on how to handle this conflict, so here are our thoughts: 1. Earn influence Support the teachers.  If the first time you speak to your child’s teacher is when you have an issue, it is easier for them to dismiss your concerns because they do not know you. From the start of the school year, or from tomorrow, become the teacher’s greatest supporter. Most teachers are overworked, and underthanked! Even if a teacher is to...

Halloween conjures up all sorts of thoughts feelings and fears for people. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has sat at home, willing my doorbell not to ring on 31st October. Every year children of all age groups are dressed up in costumes which are scary even for adults, and then knock on the doors of total strangers and ask for sweets or a trick will be played on them. My concern as a mum was that my children would see these graphic masks and struggle to sleep with these images in their mind. I would usher my children away from the door and tell them not to look out of the window so they didn't see the costumes people were wearing. Then God stopped me in my tracks..... 'These people are coming to your door, wanting something from you, why don't you give them Me?' Of course, I realised, I was missing out on the best evangelism opportunity of the year. All these children and families who were innocently coming to my door not really understanding what they...

Christmas has been commercialized: decorations, lights and cards that have little to do with the real meaning of Christmas and can all serve as a distraction from Jesus. Deuteronomy 11:18-20 says that we are to constantly teach children and talk to them about Jesus throughout the whole year and it instructs us to write these things on door frames of your houses. Our homes should be the centre piece of faith development. Christmas time is a time when we should be more intentional so faith is not buried under the wrapping of Christmas. So here are seven thoughts, in no particular order, about how to do this.   1.  Be intentional about keeping Jesus centre. The main thing is to keep the main thing as the main thing. Build into your Christmas routine things that intentionally keep Jesus at the centre. Plan both in the time of advent and on Christmas day itself to keep definite signposts to Jesus. You would not have a birthday party where the celebrant is ignored by all, inst...

We are living in a day and age where the screen has power! iPads, smartphones, tablets and computers are integral parts of everyday lives, so that most of us don't leave home without at least one device on us. After all we may need to connect with others, complete everyday tasks, shop, educate and entertain our children. But there is one place where they should surely not be used. That short time of worship before the children leave for their own groups (because we believe in all generations worshipping together, right?) or even the whole service where the children's team volunteers have a week off, sees parents reaching for their devices. After all we don't want to be distracted from our worship? Some parents even come prepared with headphones, allowing their children to be zoned out, completely cut off from their surroundings. It’s time to reverse this trend. It is easy as parents to reach for the most pain-free option - after all we don't want our children to be fid...

Over the years, we surveyed the children under our care so we could look after them better and target the ministry to where they were at. Time after time the same concerning result would come back. No matter what we did there was a hard core of 20% of our regular church children, raised in Christian homes, who believed that you had to be good to go to heaven. Every month we made sure the Gospel message of God’s grace was included somewhere in our teaching programme. So much so that one seven-year-old even commented to his mum after church,  “Mum, I think I’m ready for adult church now.” “Why is that dear?” “All we talk about in children’s church is the cross and I know all about that.” Long pause while the mother processed this fact. “But that’s all we really talk about in adult church too!” Of course, we covered many topics over the months, giving the children as much of the meat of God’s word as we could, but this seven-year-old had clearly picked up our repeated emphasis on the ...

Under Pressure Children sat in class are requested to accept that there is no difference between male and female, that gender is subjective and self-determined. In church, they learn that God made mankind male and female. Constantly pressured to compromise or fear being shunned, our children are placed on the cutting edge of modern dilemmas in this world. Sectors of society are trying to redefine tolerance – no longer do they want it to mean that I can disagree with someone’s opinion but still live with them. Now you are considered intolerant simply if you disagree. When the Bible is no longer the basis for our moral code, the potential for eroding Biblical values is endless. The self-appointed thought police take jurisdiction over any area of life they choose, even if it changes centuries of established wisdom and practice. In this context, are we raising a generation who will be able to continue to stand for God, with love, but without compromise? Every New Doctrine? Many children ra...