At Home with God

Children can be leaders. Children should be leaders. Children who follow Jesus will find themselves leading others. I have seen this happen time after a time. This should be no surprise, for those who are of the kingdom of God are called to be leaders in the world: our calling as salt and light is not dependant on age or spiritual maturity. Indeed, Jesus implies that anyone who is following him is the light and salt of the world (not that we need to become it). The only question is whether or now we will hide our light and whether our salt will lose its saltiness.  This means, by definition, our children are called to lead. By leadership I do not mean that children will take over the church eldership and start managing the church budgets. I mean that they are prepared to make a stand for God no matter what comes their way.  This is part of what it means to be adopted. No wonder the rebuke from Paul over the church in Corinth’s inability to judge correctly is so pa...

The worship song had begun and the girl on the camp started to pray for everyone around her. I am all for children praying for each other, but something about what she was doing caught my attention. I stepped off the platform to chat with her and after a brief conversation encouraged her not to worry about anyone else at this time, but to worship God for the remainder of the song. I climbed back on to the platform to carry on leading. Five seconds later she was praying for people again. ‘You are not to pray for people now, now is the time to worship Jesus.’ Moments later the girl was off praying for others. It soon became clear that she had been taught to minister to people, but did not know how to minister to the Lord. In part one of this series we looked at the importance of giving our children opportunities to stretch their faith. If their faith is to develop, it must have a forum in which it can move beyond the theory into action. The hall of faith listed in Hebrews 11 shows t...

Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God. If we are to disciple our children we must see them grow in faith. Ineffective faith will result in children falling away from God. Faith comes from hearing God’s word (Hebrews 10:17). That’s why I am so passionate about making sure that we proclaim the Gospel to the next generation and give them an opportunity to engage with the Bible for themselves and see God’s word lived out in their lives. Responding to the Gospel results from hearing God’s word preached. This Faith then needs to be strengthened (Acts 16:5), tested and grown (2 Corinthians 10:15). All of this happens when we have to move our faith from the place of theory and concepts into the place of action and experience. James illustrates this when he says in James 2:17-18, “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith b...

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...