Parents, Kids Church leaders, and Christian school teachers should be intentional about shaping children to be fully devoted followers of Christ who have reasons for believing Christianity is true – which shapes them into virtuous contributors to society and to find their role in God’s Kingdom. This will be one of the necessary and indispensable means for the Church to fulfil the Great Commission of Christ.
This is not for everyone. If you are already a parent, this is not for you. Instead of reading this I suggest you read one of my other more abstract Pastor’s Desk articles. If you are not a parent and have no intention of ever being a parent, this is not for you. Instead of reading this I suggest you read one of my more weighty articles on FindingTruthMatters.org. If you are not yet a parent and one day hope to become a parent, this is for you. Find a quiet place, take the next six minutes thirteen seconds and use the reading of this article as an investment into your future parenting strategies. I did not invent these guidelines. Like many parents who have also discovered the value of these guidelines, once discovered, they seem obvious. These successful parents probably grew up with own parents who inculcated these guidelines almost intuitively. However, my suspicion is that this is becoming increasingly rarer. As with all true guidelines they are adaptable, flexible, and are not a guarantee of parental success — but if ignored they become the point in the mathematical problem solving where you can see you made an error in your working out. In other words, while these guidelines may not guarantee success, if ignored their neglect almost certainly leads to frustration and disappointment. Here are five indispensable guidelines for every prospective new parent.
Every believer is a disciple. Therefore, every believer needs to be discipled. Christ’s commissioning last command was to make disciples. This involves making believers then shaping believers into the likeness of Christ as He wants to be seen through them. Believers are taught to practice the disciplines of a Christ-like life – Scripture familiarisation, prayer, worship, witnessing, and spiritual gift development. Every believer is a disciple and benefits from people who care enough to disciple them. But every believer also needs pastoring. Pastoring involves protecting, nourishing, healing, restoring, tending, feeding, loving. The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians as both a discipler and a pastor. Sometimes it’s difficult to decide which of the two important roles the great apostle fulfils – especially when he uses words like euparedron.