There is no doubt that parenting is a big deal. It can be the most rewarding of tasks and also the most frustrating. Being a parent brings a mix of pure joy, overwhelming love, and sheer exhaustion. What's amazing is that we embark on this enormous undertaking, which determines the course of a young life, and often have relatively little preparation. We have to take a class and pass a test to drive a car, but they will send us home with an infant and not even include the manual!
Certainly parenting is a challenge for everyone, but when we consider that parents serve as the primary faith shapers of their children, it adds another level of responsibility. We are not just trying to keep our children alive until they are 18 (although sometimes that seems like a big enough task by itself)—we are training them up in the way they should go. Christian parenting involves building the foundation of belief, preparing a child for an intimate, loving, and saving relationship with Jesus Christ. That doesn't just happen, even in the best of families. Through this column, it is our hope that we can help parents increase their understanding of the growth process and equip them with practical tools as they seek to raise the next generation of believers.
In sum, our goal in this series is to support the work of our families in any way we can. We will discuss principles of parenting and how you can use them most effectively. We will examine how children learn and find ways to teach purposefully. We will talk about ways to explain difficult topics to our children and help them make sense of Bible stories. The underlying thrust through all of our discussions, however, will be this: What are we trying to do to our children? That may sound like a funny thing to say, but no journey can be complete effectively if the destination is not firmly in mind. We will seek to encourage parents as they pursue their roles as the faith shapers of their children, helping them to focus on the adults their children will grow to be. A long-term, goal-oriented approach to parenting provides a powerful guiding force for virtually all parenting decisions, and can protect us from the spur-of-the-moment mistakes that often plague us when we don't have time to think about how decisions may pan out in the long run.
As the primary author of this column, I will draw on my background in both psychology and religious studies to provide solidly-researched, biblically-sound, spiritually-oriented commentary on issues related to parenting. Diane Smith, children's ministry strategist for the VBMB, will serve as a consultant, providing extensive experience working with children and families.
Because Faith Shapers is meant to serve you, we would love to hear any questions you might have about parenting or suggestions about topics or issues we should address in future articles. Please send all correspondence to FaithShapers@gmail.com.