25
Sep
2014
10 Ways to Teach Your Children Faith
{an archive from 2012} In Raising Kids Who Turn Out Right, Dr. Kimmel outlines Six Character Traits that all parents should strive to instill in their children to help prepare them for the challenges that inevitably lie ahead in their futures. One of the character traits is FAITH.
“A child will not accept a life plan to which his parents only give mental assent. If a child is going to accept your faith as his own, he must see it lived out. Alive and breathing and functioning. In YOU!” – Dr.Tim Kimmel
You can’t raise a child who “turns out right” if you ignore the issue of faith. Below are some hands-on ways to teach your children faith.
10 Ways to Teach Your Children Faith
- Let them find you reading your Bible every morning when they arise.
- Have them pray at meals and at bedtime.
- Watch the old movie Inherit the Wind with them, then discuss their feelings.
- Trace the root of faith in their family tree. If you are a first generation believer, tell them your testimony.
- Plant a garden and explain how you have to exercise patience and trust in God’s laws of nature.
- Have them prepare a three-minute testimony about their faith in God.
- Have them share their testimony with a friend.
- Remind them of answered prayer.
- Pray for an unsaved or sick friend or relative every day.
- Using qualified professionals, take your older children through a course that emphasizes faith in a rope, learning such techniques as rock-climbing or rappelling down a cliff. This should provide many word pictures to discuss topics of faith, trust, and responding to crisis.
Bonus :: In the spring, plan an October trip to Wrigley Field. (Now, that’s faith)