What are we talking about today?
Do you want to raise children who love God, help others, and make an impact in this crazy world?
I am confident that your answer is YES! This is what we all want as moms.
If we want this to happen, we know that we need to be intentional about how we parent our children. Family discipleship matters. Family habits, routines, values, and relationships matter.
So in today’s episode we will cover 7 family discipleship strategies for how we can approach our parenting today in order to see the fruit of kindness, compassion, love, and generosity in our children’s lives.
Let’s dive in.
Listen to Episode 55:
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If today’s topic is meaningful to you, you’ll also want to check out these earlier podcast episodes that connect with this same topic:
- Episode 17 // How can I be a good parent? Let’s apply 4 helpful Bible passages to this key parenting question.
- Episode 22 // Is your busy schedule hurting your family relationships? 3 risks you might not be thinking about… and 3 ideas to find a great balance
- Episode 45 // My daily habits that keep me spiritually healthy and help me raise my kids in the Lord (without extra work)
Are your family relationships running on autopilot? Do the family dynamics feel stuck in a rut? Check out my FREE email course:
- 5 Tools Every Busy Mom Needs to Move Her Family From Autopilot to Intimacy. (FREE 5-day email course!)
This free resource will help you get out of the rut and reconnect. With quick videos and worksheets everyday, it’s only 10 minutes a day during the course (all right there in your inbox!).
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Today's Episode Highlights
Every parent should be able to identify their goal of parenting. As Christian parents, we share a goal in our parenting: to raise children who know, love, and follow the God of the Bible.
We accomplish this through purposeful family discipleship strategies.
And one of the beautiful things about family discipleship is that as our kids grow to know and love Jesus, they will love others… because Jesus tells them to and shows us how. They will give back, because God loves a generous giver. They will make an impact, by God’s strength and power.
7 family discipleship strategies
Here are the 7 parenting strategies that we should prioritize.
- Teach our children Scripture. Talk about it. Make it a normal part of life. (Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9 for encouragement here.)
- Show them what a relationship with God looks like in our own lives. Read the Bible in front of our children, pray with them and in front of them, prioritize church and fellowship time. Let them see you loving Jesus.
- Wrestle with God’s commands together. We can ask our kids questions, tell them our questions, and look up answers in the Bible together. The gospel of John and the letter of 1 John are very clear that loving Jesus means obeying his Word.
- Spend time together as a family worshipping and thanking God. Both at home and at church, we want to spend family time in worship.
- Also, spend time together as a family helping others. Invest family resources, time, and energy into serving others. Invite people to dinner, serve at a local nonprofit or ministry, attend church outreach events together, tithe together, and pray together for missionaries and others in intense service roles.
- We take responsibility to monitor who and what is influencing our children. Do they have access to social media? You Tube? What friends do they spend time with? Do we know those friends’ families and spend time with them too? Books, movies, cartoons, teachers, coaches, TV… it is all influencing our children.
- Pray for our children to not only come to faith in Jesus but to have the wisdom, discernment, and understanding of the Holy Spirit leading them. It is quite likely that God has plans for our children that go beyond our plans for them. We want our children to know what He wants them to do in life… the impact He wants THEM to make. (Warning: it might not match our perfect dreams for them!)
Final parenting encouragement
Raising kids is hard work, and it definitely takes time and effort to apply family discipleship strategies into your parenting.
But it is so worth it.
You can find additional encouragement in the idea of “loving others” as a family from our introduction episodes – specifically, check out Episode 9 and Episode 10 for the What, Why, and How of loving others well.
Let’s close with a final invitation – don’t try to do your Christ-centered parenting alone! Join us today inside the private Facebook Group for ongoing encouragement, ideas, and support.
Friday Faith Follow-up
In this quick bonus episode, I’m sharing the 5 daily routines that I am using today with my triplet toddlers to help them know, love, and follow God. These family discipleship strategies will change over time, but life is pretty crazy with triplets … and toddlers of any amount! Yet, family discipleship and intentional parenting is still a goal and is definitely possible.
Hey, before you go!
- Join us in our free, private Facebook Group! This community is all about engaging, encouraging, and equipping each other as sisters in Christ.
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A reminder of the Disclaimers & Disclosures Policy: I am an affiliate with many of the resources I recommend, which means I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase through my provided links. I never recommend products I don’t love! Also, I am a licensed therapist but this podcast is not therapy. It is not professional or personal advice to your specific situation. Get info about professional counseling here.
