6 Tips for Nurturing A Lifelong Faith for Your Child

Aug 8

Discover six practical tips for nurturing a lifelong faith in your child. In this blog, we share how parents can build a strong foundation for their children to develop their spiritual growth and relationship with Christ.

A Call To Nurturing Faith

For 16 years, King Ahaz reigned as one of the worst kings in Judah’s history. He closed down the Temple of the Lord and instead built altars to other gods on every street corner and city in the kingdom. He even burned one of his sons as an offering to a pagan god. When he died, Ahaz was deemed so foul and evil that he wasn’t even buried in the royal tombs (2 Chronicles 28:27). Upon Ahaz’s death, his son, 25-year-old Hezekiah, became king.

In Psalm 40, David wrote of God, “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.”

There may not be a better example of this movement of God’s grace in Scripture than Hezekiah. Scripture describes him as a Godly king dedicated to restoring his kingdom, the Kingdom of Judah, to a right relationship with God. He spent his reign undoing his father's spiritual atrocities.

Here are the great things Hezekiah did:

Reopened the Temple of God: Hezekiah had it repaired and cleansed, both physically and spiritually. Everything unclean was removed, and he led his people in prayer and sacrifices.
Recommissioned the priests and Levites: Hezekiah called them to cleanse and prepare themselves to spiritually lead the people of Israel once again.
Re-established worship at the Temple: Hezekiah personally invited all of Judah and the remnant of Israel left behind by the Assyrian exile to worship at the Temple again.
Called for the observance of Passover again: Hezekiah led his people to celebrate God’s grace and provision and their identity as God’s people.
Demanded the end of pagan worship: Hezekiah removed pagan altars, pillars, and poles and had them destroyed.
Prayed for his people: Hezekiah went before the Lord on behalf of his people because he cared deeply about them.

Hezekiah did great things for his kingdom that brought his people into a renewed covenantal relationship with God. Scripture declares that Hezekiah stands apart from the other kings of Israel in that he “held fast to the Lord” and “did not depart from following” God (2 Kings 18:5-6). It’s difficult to find fault with Hezekiah. However, for all the great things he established during his reign, 30 years later, they were all undone again.

When Hezekiah died, his son, Manasseh, took the throne. Much like his grandfather, Manasseh is remembered as one of the most evil kings of either Judah or Israel. In one generation, he reversed all of Hezekiah’s reforms and led the people of Judah back into idolatry and even further away from the One True God.

While Hezekiah led his kingdom to greater faithfulness for one generation, he failed to do the one thing that Judah needed most to ensure a Godly future. Hezekiah failed to disciple his own son and lead him to a relationship with God.

Six Indicators for Nurturing a Lifelong Relationship with Jesus for Your Children

Many of us share Hezekiah’s nearsightedness. We focus on the urgent things of the present that are right in front of us. While many of these are “good” things, such as our jobs, homes, families’ immediate needs, and places of service, those immediate things can drown out our deeper calling from God to prepare the way for future generations in the faith.

For parents, this is a specific calling to be the lead disciple-maker for our children. While churches and Christian schools do a great job sharing the Gospel with our kids, let’s be clear: Scripture squarely lays the responsibility on dads and moms to ensure our children hear and understand the Gospel.

While our children’s decision to follow Christ as a disciple is their personal decision, there are many things families can do to engage our children to give them the best opportunities for lifelong faith. Based on the research of George Barna and Jana Magruder, here are six important “indicators” to a lifelong relationship with Christ:

1) Child regularly reads their Bible while growing up.

Engaging our children in consistent Bible reading, starting at a young age, is the biggest positive influencer of a lifelong faith. We shouldn’t be surprised by this because we know that God’s Word has the power to transform lives. We, as parents, can model a lifestyle of consistent, personal Bible reading along with family Bible study and devotions. We can also provide our kids with age-appropriate Bibles that help them understand Scripture and experience its beauty.

2) Child regularly spends time in prayer while growing up.

Our kids are transformed by a consistent rhythm of prayer and quiet time before God. Again, parents have the opportunity to model their own consistent personal prayer time to their children and walk beside them as they develop their own prayer lives. The more families weave prayer into the fabric of their daily lives, the easier it is for children to understand a lifestyle of prayer.

3) Child regularly serves in church while growing up.

Serving is an essential part of discipleship. Parents can model consistent service to the church and invite their children to participate. As they grow, parents can help kids follow their gifts and passions as they explore how they can uniquely participate in the life and ministry of their church through their own consistent, personal service.

4) Child listens primarily to Christian music.

What a child observes and experiences truly becomes a part of them. This is especially true when it comes to music. Music and lyrics have a way of sticking in our memories and consciousness. Children spiritually benefit when they consistently experience music that speaks Truth, quotes Scripture, and leads our children to view the world through a Biblical lens.

5) Child participates in church mission trips and projects while growing up.

Again, parents have the unique opportunity to model relational, missional living for their children and help them participate as a family in mission activities, trips, and projects. Often, we wait until children are in their teens before asking them to participate in hands-on, relational missions. However, research encourages us to engage our children in these experiences before age 12, and their worldviews have fully formed.

6) Child personally engages with a small, consistent pool of trusted Christian adults.

While discipleship is primarily the parents’ God-given responsibility, the church is called to come alongside families. From structured family ministry volunteers to organic friendships, church members are called to be involved in the lives and spiritual journeys of the next generations.

A Set Apart Family

Engaging our families in these six activities can seem overwhelming. None of these are necessarily convenient or easy. All of them require time and intentionality. To work these into the daily and weekly rhythms of our families’ lives requires rearranging priorities, sacrifices, and a willingness to be counter-cultural. This means we and our families will be different. But other words the Bible uses for different are set apart and holy; as Christ followers, that’s what we’re called to be. Look at what Peter had to say about this:

“…you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9-12

What better gift can we give our next generations than a childhood devoted to this identity as the people of God? The unfaithful Kingdom of Judah was called to be this holy nation. As the Body of Christ, we, too, are commanded to continue living out this calling and identity.

For the sake of our children, may we be inconvenienced and pushed out of our comfort zones by the Gospel. And in doing so, by the grace of God, may we also be intentional and effective in discipling our next generations!

TL;DR

King Hezekiah revitalized Judah's faith but failed to disciple his son, resulting in the loss of his reforms.
To nurture lifelong faith in our children, we must engage them in: