Spiritual Formation

Ultimately God will hold me, as my kids' daddy, responsible for their spiritual formation. The spiritual instruction they receive has to come from me. It is not their kids' church teachers responsibility or their youth leaders responsibility. God will not hold me accountable as a youth pastor for the spiritual formation of other believer's children. He will hold me accountable as a pastor and my role and duties (equipping the saints for ministry).

The trap that many Christian parents have fallen into is the idea of "I'll take my kid to church and they can learn about God there." The other side of the spectrum is the "I don't want to force this on my kids." Both are unhealthy approaches. So as a parent what is my responsibility? Deuteronomy 6

• Love God with everything I've got
• Know God's Word (be a student of the Bible)
• Be a positive example of God's Word
• Impress God's Word on my kids' hearts (the idea of sealing their hearts)
• Talk about God and His Word in our everyday life
• Center our home on God

The earlier we start this in our children's life the easier it is to carry through life, even into their teen years. At NHC each week our kids go home with a map book that they can work together with their parents on. The wise parent takes advantage of this fantastic tool.

For parents of teens who have not been doing this it will take extra effort to get this going at home. Each week I e-mail parents some scripture and discussion questions for them to read and talk about with their kids during the week. This discipleship devotion ties in with our lesson on Sunday nights at Contagious. If parents do this with their teen they are laying a foundation that gets reinforced at Contagious.

So how are you doing in the spiritual formation in your child's life?