Created to Worship: Children

A few days ago a friend of mine shared how he was pleasantly surprised to discover his seven year old son face-timing his grandparents and deeply engaged in promoting the support of a missionary with whom his son is acquainted. Even though I was not there I know Dad beamed with pride when he saw first hand the fruit of his labor and relationship with his son. I could still hear the delight in his voice as he shared the story with me. And if that were not enough his son later asked if he could extend his support effort at school.  You gotta love 'em! When a child adopts a cause they are not silent and they expect results. Where does this caring, concern and generosity come from? It's nothing new. Children watch and imitate parents and significant others in their lives.  As leaders and parents we are modeling whether we want to be doing so or not. When children see us being supportive of others, generous with out time and money they follow suit with a passion that is their ...

Deuteronomy 6 is the go to scripture when it comes to understanding God's plan for spiritual formation and growth in children. This passage of scripture clearly delegates the primary task to parents. After all, children spend more time with their family on a daily basis than they do with us on Sunday mornings,Wednesday nights or other designated times. Home is where life really happens. According to Barna Research Group (Ventura California) nine out of ten parents accept this responsibility for their child's spiritual growth but struggle with effectiveness. They went on to report that few parents admitted they don't spend any time during the typical week interacting with their child on spiritual matters. Research suggests that it's not so much that parents are unwilling to provide more substantive training to their children as they are ill-equipped to do the work and have no accountability standards. What a window of opportunity!  Consider the many creative way...