It's Deuteronomy...

Parents, ministering to your family matters. This is a personal passion of mine. My involvement in KidMin has convinced me of something that was already rolling around in my brain: just bringin' the kids to church on Sunday isn't enough.

If we hope for our kids to be life-long followers of Jesus, that's got to be modelled and engaged in the home.

When I was a kid, Mom and Dad didn't do a lot of overt stuff around faith development…I mean, I don't remember anything didactic or heavy-handed.

Instead, faithful living just mattered.

We prayed – at meal times and at bed time.

We read (quality) books that dealt with spiritual matters (Think: Narnia).

We listened to 'Christian' music (we owned every 2nd Chapter of Acts album produced!).

We talked about God – about how what we do matters to God, and how we might show the world that we belong to God by the 'little things' we do every day.

In my experience as a pastor, the families in my congregation who are clearly building faith in their children, do so by the things I've mentioned above, and by always looking for 'teachable moments.' Example: kid comes home from school and says "Mom, what's a step-dad?" Mom answers the question by talking about different kinds of families, and especially talking about the difference Jesus makes in their own family, and in their parents' marriage.

It's Deuteronomy – taking advantage of the mundane "walking, waking, going to bed, etc." and being ready to handle life with grace and truth in the moment.

Oh, and it's OK not to have every answer to every problem. This gives you a chance to demonstrate finding the answer as you can bring your children into the study or the conversations with someone who might know the answer.

It ain't easy, but even every stumble along the journey to family faith formation is worth the destination!