Check out this article from Ed Stetzer’s blog. It describes some pretty interesting research on the state of affairs for most Christian parents today. What does it mean when less than 10% of Christian parents think that “being Godly” or “having faith” is one of the marks of parental success? That means that over 90% of “Christians” believe they can be successful parents without passing on their faith to their own children – those whom they love more than anyone else. Huh?
The research also shows that 83% of parents believe that they are the main spiritual influences on their children, but 48% (almost half) of them don’t consider their own faith as an important influence in their parenting. This means they recognize their influence, but don’t see their faith as a priority in parenting.
All this stuff got me to thinking. I’m gonna sit down with Miranda see if together we can write up a “basic” list of the things we want to instill in our children – I’m sure there will be more, but if we want to be successful, and we want to be intentional about what we consider to be the marks of a good parent, then writing it down certainly can’t hurt. Even if it’s an incomplete list, it’ll be better than nothing.
Anyway, what do you guys think?
“teach the people the principals and they will govern themselves”
-George Washington
my wife and i were talking about this recently in how we raise our kids. we decided to focus on teaching them the principles of faith and not always just the practice. like relationship, God’s ownership and authority. this throws the “because i said so” answer right out the window, we really try to explain the reasons behind why we don’t lie. not lying is the practice and it breaks down our relationship with God, relationship being the principal.
i was asked recently “do you consider yourself to be a man of principle? if so what are those principles and how do you plan on instilling them in your children?”
hope thats clear to some extent….take care bro!
I think as a church, we need to be building the family unit in a way that parents will not only realize that they are the main spiritual influence but will take on that responsibility & challenge and be the parents God is asking of us all. Interesting article.
Great feedback from both of you.
I agree Mindy – we’ve got to find ways to guide them to “practice” what they know and get them to take responsibility for that which God expects from them. If our people reflect the research, then they already understand their spiritual influence, they just don’t think faith is all that important. I wonder if Jeremy has the answer? Do you think the problem in our church might be that our people don’t really believe the principles or that they haven’t seen them as relevant in their own lives?
Jeremy – I agree wholeheartedly. Our kids need to understand the principles. I’m just thinking my wife and I might want to be more intentional (write down) about what those principles are. If we’re not intentional, I’m afraid they’ll still learn principles, but they’ll learn them from the world/life instead of from us and the Scriptures.
Steve,
I totaly agree. Intentional is the only way to pass your spiritual values on to your children. Remember Deutoronomy 6 God said to teach your chidren diligently and speak of the commandments morning, noon and night. (Short paraphrase)