Teaching our children

There is no magic recipe for building a Christian home. However, Christian families have found joy, strength and guidance through spending time daily in sharing, praying and reading the Bible. There is a saying that says, ‘the family that prays together stays together’, and this is true! As we talk to God daily, we renew our relationships with each other and with God. He talks with us; we talk with him.

Children learn through watching and imitating those they respect and love. Teaching children that your faith is important enough to you to spend time praying and learning about God through reading the Bible will speak volumes to your children. Teaching our children that Sunday morning is a time for God and spending time with God’s family and community is also important. It isn’t easy to compete with all the other things that the world throws at our children – sports, drama, friends – but it is possible to be firm in what we want our family to do!

There is a formula that has worked for my family, and others have said this as well:

• Set a regular time for family time with God: after dinner, at bedtime, or for those who are time-poor, maybe just on weekends (Sunday or Saturday evenings).
• Share what happened in your day (the highs and lows).
• Read a story from the Bible. There are many devotionals, and Lutheran Tract Mission has some thematic ones.
• Talk about what you just read and try to answer any questions or write them down to ask a pastor or another elder.
• Take turns praying with each other and for each other.
• Bless each other, knowing that God is present and does love each person.

Lutheran Tract Mission offers many resources to help grow your family and teach them the faith. Explore the Lutheran Tract Mission website at www.ltm.org.au and search for ‘parenting’ to find resources to share and encourage one another as you grow together with each other and with God.

As a family, you may then ‘grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen’ (2 Peter 3:18).

Anne Hansen is Lutheran Tract Mission’s Tract Development Officer.