Parent Newsletter

The thought of building a legacy of faith from generation to generation sounds great, but I’m sure you’re probably asking yourself, “How do I begin?” It’s actually a great question to ask mentors in your own life. As you build your family legacy, I suggest thinking about the spiritual, relational, physical, emotional, and mental characteristics of your life. What kind of legacy do you want to leave with your children in these five areas of life? Here are some goals you might want to pursue.

There's no doubt that you have lots of priorities for your kids as they grow up. But of all the priorities you have for your children, none of them really matters unless they're built upon a foundation of faith.  The Scriptures make this clear, "Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.  Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain" (Psalm 127:1).  Our kids need a moral compass to help build their lives, and passing a spiritual legacy on to your kids is one of the most important responsibilities you have as a parent!

With all of the great children and youth programs within churches today, many parents allow churches to “take the wheel” when it comes to their kids’ spiritual development while they take a more passive role. We can easily become convinced that it’s the church’s job to help our kids grow spiritually, not ours. Yet, guess what? God specifically places the responsibility for nurturing a child’s spiritual development on parents – not the church! Many parents find it hard to talk to their kids about God and spiritual issues. So, here are ten practical suggestions about how to get started.

As your kids head off into the wild blue yonder of adulthood, you’ll probably have worries about the prospects of your kids living in a world without curfews, vegetables, or clean laundry. But, if you have been raising your kids to be responsible and have resisted micromanaging their lives, they’ll probably be fine once they take flight. Still, you can help your kids avoid crash-landings by providing them with “landing gear” – facts of life that every adult needs to survive on his or her own in the real world.

In a previous edition of HomeWord’s Good Advice Parent Newsletter, we asked our readers to give advice to parents about whether or not to require a 16-year-old boy, who hates church, to attend church services. Here were some of the responses we received from you, our subscribers.

While many parents desire to have a family devotional time, some find it hard to talk to their kids about God and spiritual issues and end up frustrated. Failed attempts seem to lead parents to the same question, "What can we do that works?" Experience has proved that kids are often responsive to interactive methods, such as object lessons and discussions. With that in mind, here are four, object lesson-based family devotionals that I hope you’ll find useful with your family!