Student Ministry Priorities
Imagine handing over your student ministry to someone new—what would they focus on first? Before the events, the energy, or the excitement, there’s a deeper foundation that makes all the difference.
Parenting
This Is Gonna Hurt Me More
Ephesians 6:1-4 – Many parents have said, “This is gonna hurt me more than you” when it comes to discipline, but if a parent fails to correct, there’s more significant pain to come. Parents must take the formation of their children seriously.
Remembering Rebirthdays
We celebrate numerous milestones in life, highlighting those moments repeatedly to where those memories are cemented in our minds. If salvation is as important as you say it is, do what you can to ritualize celebrations of the conversions in your home.
Replacing Parents with Programs
We have to rethink the role of parents in the church’s strategy to evangelize and disciple the younger generations. Replacing parents with programs will not solve the problems.
Your Child Needs the Home & the Church
We have more ministry programming for the next generation than ever before, but our kids aren’t staying connected to the church. We are expecting programs to do what God expects parents to do.
Churches Can’t Overcompensate for All Parental Problems
We often blame the church for younger generations disconnecting, but what if it has more to do with the home? We should not be surprised if children physically check out if they were raised by parents who spiritually did years before.
Parental Availability
If you are a parent, you understand that the days are long, but the years are short as you seek to raise the children entrusted to you. Your availability is directly related to your capability as you set out to disciple your kids well.
Cautions for Single Parents
Parenting with a spouse is challenging enough, but single parenting is an incredibly daunting task. Consider these warnings as you undertake this important calling for the sake of your children.
Parenting Prodigals
It can be disheartening for parents who seek to raise their children in the ways of the Lord to see them turn from it. Learn these biblical principles to reach your children if they drift away.
Tell Your Kids Your Story
One of the greatest tools parents have to teach their children is the lessons learned along the way. Don’t miss opportunities to share your stories of success and failures to help them navigate their paths.
Godly Legacies Aren’t Left By Accident
If you want your children to grow up loving Jesus, are they seeing that authentic example in your home? Godly legacies aren’t left by accident; you must become intentional if your children have a chance to follow Jesus well.
Our Children’s Biggest Problem
Children in today’s culture have numerous forms of opposition against them. But out of all the sources of stress, sometimes it is their parents who should provide support and actually create more issues.
Defining Successful Parenting
Successful parenting must be defined by what God values most in our children’s lives. Parents must take the responsibility to be the primary evangelists and disciple-makers.
Learn from Parental Examples
Good, bad, or indifferent, we all have learned lessons from our parents. Yours might have been intentional or even estranged, but you can’t deny that their life has made an impact. Have you ever considered what to do with what you’ve learned?
Honoring Parents
Exodus 20:12 – The fifth commandment instructs all people, regardless of age, to honor their parents. God has created the family structure to be a training ground for how we embody care and respect authority.
What God Expects of Parents
Parents are overwhelmed with the expectations of their own and all those around them. But above what anyone else demands of you as a parent, have you ever considered what God expects?
Fruitful & Multiply
God’s original command to the first couple was to be fruitful and multiply. It was a call to take what He had given them in order to use it and multiply it to the best of their God-given abilities. God is up to something, and your marriage can be a part of it.
When Spouses Disagree as Parents
A married couple can agree in the majority of areas of their lives together, but if they don’t stay aligned in their parenting, the entire family will feel the stress. What happens when spouses disagree in their roles as parents?
If Your Children Worship Like You
Will you pleased if your children worship like you? Cause if you want them to have a deeper spiritual fervor than your own, you might want to start giving them an example to imitate.
Your Parenting Target
Every parent has a target they are hoping their children hit. While it may never be simply expressed, it is consistently pursued.
Generational Curses
God’s Word exposes numerous issues for any family to address in order to walk in conformity with his standard and design. A misunderstanding of generational curses can discourage people from making noble attempts to turn a family’s legacy around.
Grand Errants
Many families experience conflict because of members failing to be what the surrounding generations need them to be at the right time. You can avoid painful conflict if you understand how God has wired all family roles to interact with one another.
Practical Tips for Parents
Due to many factors, many parents cannot find a healthy balance when it comes to discipline. Scripture teaches that we cannot neglect that responsibility but must handle it with care.
Your Child’s Not Going Through a Phase
Every child is prone to push the boundaries, but God expects parents to enforce them for their own good. Loving your child isn’t allowing them to get away with anything, but it is committing to discipline them through everything.
Don’t Drop Your Kids off at Church
God expects parents to be the primary disciple-makers of their children. Your home will never produce growing disciples without the intentional investment of one generation into another.
Your Kid Has Only a 0.0296% Chance
There is a 0.0296% chance that your child will become a professional athlete, yet there is a 100% chance that your child will stand before Jesus one day. What percentage of our time are we preparing them for those two scenarios?
Spiritually-Engaged Parents of Camp-Bound Students
Is your child going to church camp this summer? Make sure you think about your role to ensure that experience serves him or her well for a long time.
Fruitful & Multiply
As God placed His stamp upon Adam and Eve, He intended them to spread that image throughout the world. He calls families to be fruitful and multiply through their homes.
Life-Changing Camps & Nit-Picking Parents
Parents – so you’ve sent your children off to church camp, have you? What is your expectation once they return? Discover what Jesus did in your child’s life before focusing on temporal issues.
Don’t Ruin Your Children’s Camp Once They Return Home
As summer begins, it’s that time of year for your kids to travel to camp. If you have any of your children going to a church camp or mission trip this summer, I want to warn you about something that could do significant damage to your child’s relationship with Jesus and with you.
Evaluating Your Family’s Technology Usage
Our accepted standard of technology usage can easily affect our relationship with God and with others. If you are unsure how your technology usage is affecting your family, ask these questions.
One Pastor’s Legacy of Neglecting His Family
A. W. Tozer was a pastor who was commendable in his love for God but lacking in his devotion to his family. Learn from his example of what not to do as you care for your spouse and your children.
The Parental Pendulum
Unfortunately, instead of finding a healthy, biblical balance of parents disciplining their children in love, I often see parents swinging to one of the far sides of the parent pendulum. Most parents tend to be either too harsh or too lenient in disciplining their children.
How to Frustrate Your Child’s Spiritual Growth
While parents should be the supportive catalysts for a child’s spiritual growth, sometimes just the opposite is experienced. Have you ever thought that your words, expressions, and actions might be discouraging your child’s personal discipleship?
Learning to Be a Better Dad
If you want to learn how to be a better dad, look to the perfect one who cares for you, and learn from him.
Love Your Kids By Prioritizing Your Spouse
As you lovingly teach your children that your spouse comes first, you are modeling healthy marriage for them, maintaining emotional security for them, and maturing your own marriage before them. Never neglect the task of shepherding your children in the ways of the Lord (Prov. 22:6; Eph. 6:4), but never forget that one of the main ways you can do that is by loving their other parent.
Why Homeschooling Is Different Than Hybrid-Schooling
COVID-19 forced many parents to finish up the school year in a hybrid format. For those who were overwhelmed by that experience, that is not the same as homeschooling.
The Looming Decision for COVID Education
I have talked with so many parents who are concerned with the unknown situation regarding their children’s education during these anxious times we live in due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are now in July, and most parents are holding their breath awaiting an imminent decision with serious implications.
Your Child Is Unique (& Your Parenting Should Be Too)
Since your child is unique, there is a unique approach to parenting them. Acknowledging how God has shaped them, we are called to affirm who they are but also to work on who they could become.
These Are My Sons [Both of Them]
These are my sons. Both of them. I have been asked before, “Are they really your sons?” “Oh, they are both quite real, so then I would suppose they are both really my sons.” They are my sons, and they are brothers. Real brothers. You might think I look at them differently. You are right. I do look at them …