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Home > About Us > Mission > Reaching New Generations > REACH - RNG Strategy Update

0-5 | Faith in Homes

In this section:

Role of Churches

Parenting in Faith

Bringing God into every day

Being Intentional

Action

Resources

 
 
 

Equipping families to parent in faith in both everyday life and through intentional discipleship, growing together in faith as a family.

As a family, identifying childrens God given gifts, interests and passions and creating opportunities to use them and live them out as their faith develops.

Recent research from Care for the Family tells us that the majority of people come to faith before the age of 19 and that only 2% on Anglicans from England and Wales are converts from non-Christian families. Despite this only 50% of children bought up in Christian homes still follow faith as an adult. Parents have the biggest influence on the faith of young children, followed by church leaders, Christian friends and childrens work leaders. In order to see children and young people growing in faith, we need to enable Christian parents to nurture their childrens spirituality and faith.

Key factors that can increase chances of children choosing to follow their parents faith are:

  • Children feeling close to their parents and growing up in a warm family.
  • Children seeing that parents have a developing (not perfect) faith themselves.
  • Parents seek to develop and nurture childrens faith.
  • Children receive positive intergenerational input from wider family and church.

Although many parents acknowledge it is their role to teach their children about the Christian faith, many feel ill equipped to do so. One of the main barriers to sharing faith in the home is reported as a lack of time, with children often having time devoted to other activities. This is followed by a lack of knowledge and confidence in how to teach faith, followed by not wanting to pressurise their children.

Encouraging children to share their faith and equip families to create a home environment that can support discussion, debate and questioning.

While many churches report they encourage parents to pray at home with their children and share bible stories, intentional activities such as helping parents understand the importance of nurturing faith at home, parenting courses or suggesting resources are less common. In suggesting that families need to be intentional about engaging with faith at home, we need to be intentional to support them.

Here are some responses on how we might respond in our Churches:

  • Provide a parenting course to help parents build positive bonds with their children (see resources section). Acknowledging that parenting in todays culture is very visible and parents can often feel judged. Encourage sharing faith at home as important and natural, without making parents feel it is another thing to feel guilty about getting wrong.
  • Suggest and facilitate parents linking up with each other and with older parents for mutual support and encouragement. This could be in person and/ or through social media.
  • Consider ways in which you could use thanksgivings, baptisms or confirmations to help parents and the congregation think about intentionally nurturing their childrens faith.
  • Recognise that raising awareness and pointing parents towards useful resources could really help parents think about faith in their home. Inspire parents by helping them recognise how much influence they do have with their children. Give them confidence in their faith, that they dont need to know all the answers but can do simple things to make a big difference!
  • Consider how children could be more involved in ways of serving at church and even in decision making. Could they hand things out, choose prayers and hymn, lead parts of the service?
  • Proactively encourage the building of intergenerational relationships at church.
  • Examine how adults and parents are being discipled in church. If parents are not being discipled, they will be less likely to disciple their children and will often not have the ideas, language or enthusiasm to do so.

The following section includes ideas and activities to encourage sharing faith at home. The activities arent a tick list, which parents feel they must do. Every family is different and will enjoy their own way of doing things. Below are some ideas to help families tap into what works for them and how best they can share their faith with their children.

 

 

Environment

How can a family create an environment that will help faith flourish? Ideally a loving home with authoritative discipline has been shown as the best environment, with authoritarian and passive discipline less likely. A home environment with openness, shared values and one that trusts God in all aspects of life will provide an environment where a childs faith can be nurtured. It is also important for parents to be fully present with their children, at least for some of the time amongst the many distractions of modern life today. Creating opportunities and spaces for children to encounter God both on their own and as part of the family are important.

How can we have deeper conversations as part of daily life?

Enabling families to have deeper conversations about God on a regular basis can help children see God at work in their lives. Questions such as: How did you see God at work today/ this week? What did you learn at church today? How are you listening to God and what is he saying to you at this time? Prompting children to think deeper, in addition to parents to share their responses will encourage children to see God working in their daily life.

Regular habits and family rituals

Regular habits and family rituals will help embed faith in a family unit. In families we undertake many rituals and habits from morning to night. Finding ways to incorporate prayer, reading scripture together, sharing values and discussions can help to embed children faith into their everyday life. Opportunities for this could include before meals, on the way home from school, and at bedtime.

How can we model prayer in all that we do?

If parents keep prayer private and separate from children, children may not have the opportunity to experience what prayer can look and feel like. Modelling and being creative with daily prayer can teach children how to both talk to and listen to God. Praying out loud, praying together and listening to what God is saying to the whole family can equip children to develop their prayers and relationship with God. (Exploring different types of prayer… list)

Exploring nature together

Taking time as a family to fully explore and appreciate our world created by God can be fun, practical and engaging for children. It is something that can be incorporated into everyday walks, trips and visits and can offer a fresh perspective on childrens faith in our world. (awe and wonder)

Be creative

Sharing stories and values through allowing children to be creative can be a fun and exciting way for them to engage with faith. Children can explore play, craft, music or movement to both learn about and encounter God. Expensive or specific equipment isnt needed, just regular materials found around the home can be used to explore together.

Praying/ worshiping together

In addition to prayers that become part of a familys routine, putting intentional time aside to dedicate and be creative in prayer will help children develop their own spirituality.

By exploring a range of prayers or worship using simple resources based on their childrens interests, families can tap into childrens individuality and spiritual styles. Children will not only value and enjoy this but can develop their own spirituality and relationship with God through prayer. Examples include having a photo/ interest board to pray for, drawing prayers, lego prayers, using STOP (Sorry, Thank you, Others, Please), a prayer box with items in for children to select, prayer songs/ worship music, family prayers. Children could even be helped to create their own special space for quiet time, reflection and prayer.

Sharing Bible stories

Children love stories. Creating time and space to share Bible stories with children and to allow them discuss and ask questions can be key to their faith development. Again this could be built into a regular routine or marked as an intentional special family time. Many Bibles are age appropriate and other methods could be used such as video clips or dolls, props, puppets or role play to act out the stories.

Celebrating Christian Events

Celebrating Christian events fully and thoughtfully can help children grow in faith despite our increasingly materialistic focus in society around such events. Looking at scripture, sharing stories and partaking in activities can help create family traditions which will remain with children for years to come. Calendar events could include Harvest, Light parties, Christmas, Shrove Tuesday/ Lent, Easter and Pentecost.

Milestones

Milestones are significant moments where children and their families move from one stage to another. Often families celebrate milestones throughout a childs early life, their first steps, the first time riding a bike and a first day at school. For Christian families there is an opportunity to highlight and celebrate peak experiences within a childs life and their faith journey. Parents need to look for these memorable moments, it may be a special event they are part of with Church, an encounter with God or a moment of understanding something for the first time. Encouraging children to reflect back on their spiritual journey and that of the whole family will affirm them as they grow in faith.

Action

Involving others

Families have so much to learn from the intergenerational church family. Creating opportunities for families to get together, network, pray and learn from all generations can support parenting and help children feel firmly rooted in the Church. Activities can vary from church based, social or intentional all age discipleship such as home groups.

Get involved together

Parents should encourage children to identify their gifts and how they can use these for Gods Kingdom. Children often have a strong sense of justice and want to make a difference, so discerning their interests and passions can be a step towards them taking action as part of their growing faith.

Helping children to get practically involved both within church, the local community and wider world can demonstrate living out faith in action and can develop a childs sense of vocation or calling.

Examples could include fundraising, food banks, local community projects, hospitals, day centres, anti-poverty work and global projects.

Mission

Children find sharing their faith and mission very natural. Parents can encourage and celebrate this, creating an environment back home where children can have discussion, debate and ask questions in a safe space, even if parents do not always have the answers.

Involving others

Families have so much to learn from the intergenerational church family. Creating opportunities for families to get together, network, pray and learn from all generations can support parenting and help children feel firmly rooted in the Church. Activities can vary from church based, social or intentional all age discipleship such as home groups.

Get involved together

Parents should encourage children to identify their gifts and how they can use these for Gods Kingdom. Children often have a strong sense of justice and want to make a difference, so discerning their interests and passions can be a step towards them taking action as part of their growing faith.

Helping children to get practically involved both within church, the local community and wider world can demonstrate living out faith in action and can develop a childs sense of vocation or calling.

Examples could include fundraising, food banks, local community projects, hospitals, day centres, anti-poverty work and global projects.

Mission

Children find sharing their faith and mission very natural. Parents can encourage and celebrate this, creating an environment back home where children can have discussion, debate and ask questions in a safe space, even if parents do not always have the answers.

Page last updated: Wednesday 11th December 2024 4:40 PM
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