Saturday, September 23, 2006

6 Things Parents Can Do to Build Their Spiritual Authority With Their Kids (and None of Them Are Homeschooling)

When I referenced Dr McGee , and because I myself homeschool, maybe you got the idea that I, or Dr McGee, think that homeschooling is the only alternative for producing godly Christian young people. Not so!

Parenthetically, nothing like homeschooling should ever cause division in the body, but it does sometimes, doesn't it? We feel awkward if we are the only one in the group who has made a different choice, whether public school, Christian school, or homeschool. But consider what Jesus said in John 17 would be the outcome of our unity:
that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me

Just to show you that I have given respectful consideration to the possibility that a public school family CAN be a Deuteronomy 6 family, here's a list of things I've thought of that parents can do to build their spiritual authority with their kids:

  1. Build a personal relationship with each one, noticing and valuing his or her uniqueness.
  2. Let them see you read your Bible.
  3. Discuss your decisions with them, including actually reading to them the verse(s) you are basing your decision on. As they get older, and especially by the end of elementary school when they know EVERYTHING about the Bible, ask their input.
  4. Be a leader in spiritual things. Teach Sunday School or serve in Awana.
  5. Arrange your life to include non-believers.
  6. Spend time together EVERY DAY.
In short, live your priorities. If you don't have time to read your Bible, do you have time to bake cupcakes for their pre-school?

posted by Rebecca @ 5:00 PM

3 Comments:

At 4:27 PM, Blogger Beth said...

I think these are true even for non-Christian families. As you said, "live your priorities." If a robust spiritual life is a high priority for you, then live that way, whatever your religion may be.

In our family, we show our children, by discussion and example, that our faith is a central part of our identity and how it guides our daily actions. We have no issues with our devout friends of other faiths who do the same, and we are fortunate that the basic tenants of all our religions boil down to the same type of thing (i.e. be nice to each other).

 
At 8:42 PM, Blogger Rebecca said...

Thanks, Beth, I take that as a compliment!

I do, however, disagree that the basics of all faiths boil down to the same thing. For the most part they attempt to produce the same kind of BEHAVIOR, the golden rule, etc. On that we can agree.:)

 
At 9:30 PM, Blogger Beth said...

Right -- I meant behavior. Which is what I am most concerned with (especially with regards to kids), actions speaking loudest and all. :-)

xoxo

 

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