1) Preparation: Help Them Have a Genuine Hunger For Spiritual Things
Prepare your child for worship by taking time to explain to them what happens at Church. In other words, be intentional about making sure their relationship with God starts from home. Find ways to incorporate certain key aspects of Christian worship, such as Bible reading, prayer, and song, into their daily routine. Expose them to other Christian traditions from home. Help them cultivate a genuine interest in spiritual things. When you do this, they would see Church as a continuation of their normal lives and they’ll be better equipped to appreciate the service. The goal is to ensure the Church becomes a truly personal expression of its innermost heart.
2) Commit Yourself to Fellowshipping With Brethren
The best way to teach our children is by being what we want them to be; parenting is a continuous life of sacrifice and self-denial. It starts with us. They need to see that the Church is a non-negotiable part of our lives and that God comes first in all things. When attendance is optional and we let all kinds of other activities take precedence, we shouldn’t be surprised when the Church doesn’t matter to them as they become independent and make their own decisions.
3) Go To Church For The Right Reasons
If you make them see you go to Church because the lessons make you feel good, their takeaway will be that making people feel good is the point of attending Church. If you make them see it’s because of the financial support you received, you teach them that the Church is an organization that is there to serve the individual rather than the other way around. If you go to meet friends, they would also learn to do the same.
4) Teach them by your words the value of your Church family
If they hear us lifting up our Church family in prayer and speaking well of them, they will see the value of having a Church family. On the other hand, if they hear us speaking negatively about the preacher or the song leader or sharing the latest gossip about fellow members, it will teach them all kinds of bad attitudes; superiority to others, to be judgmental and, ultimately, to have little value or love for their Church family.
Teach children to love the people in Church. Speak highly of your brothers and sisters. Though the people around us are never perfect, we can teach our children to love as Jesus loved by caring about our Church family. And, we teach them humility and grace when we show them the importance of loving people through the ups and downs.
5) Teach Them By Your Actions That The Church is a family
When we tell our kids that Church is a family and then only see each other briefly each week, know little about each other, and rarely bear each other’s burdens, they’ll start to see the term “Church family” as a joke. Teach your kids that you mean it when you call your fellow members your family.
6) Spend Time with Your kids
This builds a strong relationship with them and continually shows them that they are also important to you.
If we are not intentional in the way we parent our children, a bitterness and anger towards the Church will grow as they begin to feel like the Church is an enemy to them receiving affection from their parents.
When we consistently put them secondary, we communicate to them that the Church gets our best and they get our worst. Giving them whole-hearted love and attention we receive each day from your Father helps them love Fellowshipping with Him.
7) Involve Them
Find ways to involve your kids in the service you are doing in Church. This will also help you discover their gifting early. Even the youngest of your kids can help with little things. Take them with you as you take a meal to someone, train them to go out of their way to speak to older members of your Church. In little ways like these, they would have a sense of belonging to the Church.
The Holy Spirit provides all of the strength and energy that we need to be Godly parents indeed. Every day we must look up to the Spirit who will give us constant help.
Parents!!! Let’s be deliberate with our parenting responsibility. Do all you can, and trust God to help you! Our labor will not be in vain in Jesus’ name.
Sources
KemiOyedepo
FountainofHopeMinistriesIntl
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