Discipling Our Kids: 5 things that matter.

Discipling Kids

Jul 22

As parents, we have been called to be the primary disciplers of our children, and we can be confident that God loves our kids more than we do and He is drawing all of His children to Himself.

Let’s get into 5 key components that can help you make the most of your discipling efforts:

ONE

GOALS MATTER

Prayerfully identify your top 3 goals for your child’s spiritual growth over the coming year.

EXAMPLES OF GOALS YOU MIGHT HAVE:

Read Scripture with them every day and talk about it.

Guide them into more opportunities for them to talk with God and listen for God’s voice.

Guide them to hear God’s voice consistently and accurately.

Be solid in their true identity in Christ and have conversations with them to renew their identity on an ongoing basis.

Discover how their gifts, talents, passions and experiences connect to make them uniquely qualified to serve others.

Help them feel equipped and confident to engage in spiritual conversations with their friends.

Have a conversation with them about baptism and discern their next step spiritually.

Connect them to people and community where they can grow spiritually.

TWO

YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR CHILD MATTERS

There are many distractions in life, but the greatest gift you can give your child is your undivided attention. Presence matters most.

Put the spotlight on them by engaging in THEIR interests and look for opportunities to celebrate them!

Create memorable “rites of passage” experiences that can shape your child’s identity and purpose and leave extraordinary impact. Examples include: first day of school, baptism, receiving a first Bible, getting a driver’s license, graduating from high school/ ushering into adulthood.

THREE

MODELING MATTERS

Proactively share with your child how you are connecting with God and how God has influenced the way you feel about a current situation or helped shape your decisions. Invite your child to hear from God with you.

Regularly assess your family’s culture of repentance, grace and forgiveness. Children are more likely to repent and ask for forgiveness if they’ve seen their parents do so and when they’ve experienced grace in their relationships with others.

Frame situations as opportunities to know and trust Christ and that our obedience is our loving response to trusting God. Great question to consider: What does it mean to trust God in this situation?

FOUR

BIBLE READING AND PRAYER MATTER

When you’re reading the Bible with your child, seek to know their thoughts first about God. Great questions to ask your child: What did you like about this story? What was God doing, thinking and feeling during the story? What do we learn about people from this story? Where do you think God is asking you to trust in Him more?

Look ahead for opportunities to tie together truths from Scripture with experiences your child will be facing. Common life experiences to prepare them for: how healthy friendships work and how to face new situations.

Prioritize prayer. One way of praying with your kids is called Breath Prayer. “Breathe in” His presence with a listening posture and “breathe out” your gratitude, a core blessing you have for your child, or a prayer for others.

FIVE

COMMUNITY MATTERS

Give every child at every phase something significant to do and show them how that contributes to making their family/community better.

Each year identify the top 1-5 influential people that are helping shape your child’s personal relationship with God and intentionally look for ways to bless them.