Tag: teach
More Resources for Parents Seeking to Raise Godly Kids in a Sinful World
Posted on November 2, 2016 in Family, Theology by Nathan Cherry
Last week I posted a few resources for Christian parents to help in raising their kids in the “fear and admonition of the Lord.” I found those resources very helpful for me, personally, as I seek to raise my kids in the Gospel. So, when I came across more resources to help with this holy task, I wanted to share them as well.
Take a look at some of the articles below to learn more about cultivating the Gospel in your kids, the importance of your presence, and how to avoid “provoking your children to wrath.” There’s even a couple of videos at the end of the list that I think are very helpful (the first video is a beautiful animated YouTube song depicting the Gospel.) I hope these are a blessing and encouragement to you as you seek to impart your faith to your children.
10 Tips for Leading Kids to Christ
“This is definitely not an article about “success, and how we have achieved it.” Rather, as the old adage goes, we are beggars telling other beggars where we have found some bread. If you are seeking to influence little ones toward Christ, you might find these ten tips helpful…
Resources for Christian Parents Seeking to Raise Kids in a Sinful World
Posted on October 25, 2016 in Family, Theology by Nathan Cherry
As a parent that is deeply committee to imparting my faith to my children, I am always looking for resources to help. I am often overwhelmed by the task of sharing my faith with my kids, teaching them, and training them. I fail daily and need the wise counsel of those who have gone before me.
With that in mind, the following list is some helpful resources for everything from praying for your kids to taking them to church. There’s insight on answering kids’ biblical questions and tips for raising Godly kids. And, at the end is a list of books and other resources that can provide further support in your task as a parent of bringing the Gospel to your children. I hope this is a helpful list of resources that provide encouragement and support for you, mom and dad.
Why Require Unregenerate Children to Act Like They’re Good?
“Here are at least three reasons why Christian parents should require their small children (regenerate or unregenerate) to behave in ways that conform externally to God’s revealed will. I say “small children” because as a child gets older, there are certain external conformities to God’s revealed will that should be required and others that should not. It seems to me, for example, while parents should require drug-free, respectful decency from a 15-year-old, it would do little good to require an unbelieving and indifferent 15-year-old to read his Bible every day. But it would be wise to require that of a 6-year-old, while doing all we can to help him enjoy it and see the benefit in it.”
What If Kids Don’t Want to Go to Church Because of Their Parents?
Posted on July 28, 2016 in Family, Theology by Nathan Cherry
I watched a short clip recently with Carl Trueman in which the scholar made the observation that one likely reason we are seeing a drop in church attendance is that parents are simply not teaching their kids that it is a priority. Trueman said:
“The church is losing its young people because the parents never taught their children that it was important. I think that applies across the board. It applies to family worship, and it also applies to whether you are in church every Sunday and what priority you demonstrate to your children church has on a Sunday. If the sun shines out and their friends are going to the beach, do you decide to skip church and go to the beach? In which case, you send signals to your children that it is not important.”
What is the Most Important Lesson My Kids Can Learn from Me?
Posted on March 9, 2016 in Family, Theology by Nathan Cherry
As parents we spend a lot of time teaching our kids. Over the years I have helped teach my kids to:
tie a shoe,
ride a bike,
dress,
brush their teeth,
vacuum the floor,
and eat with a fork.
These “lessons” were often informal, not something planned with a manual and graded when we were done.
I’m sure you can recall many “lessons” you taught your kids as they were growing up (or maybe you’re still teaching because your kids are young; or hard-headed.) We often teach our kids without even realizing that we are doing so; a truth that is both interesting and somewhat frightening.
We’ve all been told that kids watch our every move and will learn by watching; they will imitate us. So we do our best as parents to be polite, use our manners, and refrain from burping at the dinner table. We want our kids to learn good habits so we try each day to set an example for them. But what about the lessons that can’t be learned by simply watching and observing someone else?
These 5 Tips for Christian Parents Will Help Teach Our Faith to Our Children
Posted on December 9, 2015 in Family, Theology by Nathan Cherry
Once upon a time people thought it was the church’s job to instill faith into their children. Now only the naïve and mistaken parent adheres to that misguided idea. The faith of my children is primarily my responsibility; the church is there to supplement what I am doing to grow my children in the “nurture and admonition” of the Lord. Knowing that I have such a great responsibility means placing a priority on their spiritual development. Before anything else, musical development, athletic development, or even vocational development, comes their spiritual development.
I’m not arrogant enough to think I can do it alone. I constantly search for resources to aid in my teaching and training. To that end I recently read an article at Monergism that stood out. It was a very simple reminder to Christian parents about what it takes to raise godly kids. One striking feature of the article is that it nowhere mentions the church. Now, this doesn’t mean the author is suggesting the church holds no importance in our children’s faith formation. To the contrary this article is merely giving some practical tips to parents with a deep burden to grow faith in their kids.
Another feature of the article is that every tip given was directly aimed at parents. This reiterates that the responsibility for my kids’ faith development is primarily my responsibility. At least for a while I must lead in instilling those seeds of faith that I want to see grow. It is a very dangerous thing to try and unload this responsibility on someone else; or even the church. Not only are we risking that those seeds won’t be planted at all; we are risking that the wrong seeds will be planted or that they won’t be properly watered and will die.
Take a look at some of the useful advice from the article that can help us instill a life-long faith in our children:
A Church That Wants to Grow Must Do These 2 Things Really Well
Posted on September 15, 2015 in Theology by Nathan Cherry
I was struck by the juxtaposition of two article recently. One discussed the “effective things churches do well,” while the other detailed the “internal barriers to growth in a church.” What makes these two articles so interesting is their relationship to one another.
The things one church does well, resulting in growth, is often the same thing another church does poorly, resulting in declining attendance. For this reason church leaders ought to make it a point to pay attention to their cultural context in order to determine what things need done, what needs changed, and the difference between the two.
Let’s look at several examples:
Recent Survey Discovers the Most Popular Heresies Among Evangelical Christians
Posted on November 11, 2014 in Theology by Nathan Cherry
As my church prepares to begin walking through the book of Ecclesiastes on Sunday mornings, I am already reminded of Solomon’s oft-repeated phrase: “There’s nothing new under the sun.”
That phrase comes to mind as I read the results of a recent survey conducted by LifeWay Research for Ligonier Ministries concerning the theological beliefs of evangelical Christians. These views, heretical at best, show the lack of theological training and how it has caused a host of ancient heresies to resurface today.
Here is a list of some of the troubling statistics:
Which Church Is Yours-The Macklemore, Wrecking Ball, M.C. Hammer, or Ring of Fire
Posted on October 28, 2014 in Marriage by Nathan Cherry
Dean Inserra recently wrote an article for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission that was also published on the Speak Up movement blog. In the post Inserra says that four kinds of churches exist when it comes to dealing with homosexuality: the Macklemore Church, the Wrecking Ball Church, the M.C. Hammer Church, and the Ring of Fire Church.
Take a peek at Inserra’s description of each church and ask yourself, Which do I belong to?” But don’t forget to ask yourself which is the most biblical, Gospel-centric church. If you’re not at that one it might be time to make a change.
The Macklemore Church
The Macklemore Church just simply thinks the Bible is outdated, or just plain wrong on homosexuality. This church has been on the fringe left end of the spectrum, but recently exists in some traditional mainline circles.
Sex Education for Parents: Why It Should Matter Who Teaches Your Kids
Posted on July 23, 2014 in Family, Sexuality by Derick Dickens
But here is also where the problem arises. My wife and I talked to our kids about sex from very early in their life. We always answered their questions truthfully, but never more than necessary at every age. When asked how “Mommy got pregnant”, We explained how God designed men and women, and Daddy’s seed fertilized mom’s egg. For a while that satisfied their curiosity. Later they would ask other questions, and the more questions the more detail we gave.
We see sex as a beautiful thing, something wonderfully created, something that is more than a way to orgasm, but full of purpose, meaning, and containing tremendous substance.
Why would I want someone to teach anything less?
Education: Why We Choose to Home School Our Kids (Must Watch Video)
Posted on June 14, 2014 in Home School by Nathan Cherry
A new book being released by the Harding family of Montgomery, AL details how they were able to send 7 or their 10 kids to college by age 12. An article at The Blaze reports:
“In ‘The Brainy Bunch Book,’ parents Mona Lisa and Kip Harding of Montgomery, Alabama, explain how their seven children were home-schooled and ended up heading to college while most of their peers were still navigating middle school. The parents share their wisdom and experience, while answering the natural question: How did you accomplish such an unbelievable feat?…Just consider their kids’ astounding academic and professional accomplishments. Among the seven who went to college early, there’s a doctor, an architect and an engineer.”
The family recently did an interview where father, Kip, said that one of the reasons they favored home schooling was for the individual attention he and his wife were able to give the kids: