Helping your church unlock discipleship at home
“What good will come from this mess?”
It was dinner time, Day 11 of home isolation. We read Psalm 121 and prayed, expressing trust that our help really does comes from the Lord. Amen.
Then, a little voice piped up, “What good will come from this mess?”. This was followed by another voice, “What’s God doing at the moment?”
We talked about the generosity of people sharing toilet paper rolls. We praised the tenacity of doctors and nurses. We marvelled at all the live book readings, PE classes and drawing classes on YouTube.
But then we mourned. No more school playground, football, ballet, swimming, church, Kids’ Club, parties, or sausage trips to Hammerbarn (the hardware shop in Bluey).
COVID-19 has burst the bubble of all the self-help slogans Westerners love. It’s not wig (meaning: exciting) at the moment. We’ll not be right. People we know are out of work. The borders are closed. Holidays are cancelled. We are all at home. We trust and pray for tired men and women in government seeking to lead in unchartered waters. What good will come from this mess?
The answer is lots. COVID-19 will change the world as pandemics have done throughout history. But that is not what my children were asking? What good will come for families like ours in this mess?
As I chattered with fellow ministers about this question one of them made a profound comment,
“COVID-19 will produce a new generation of Christian parents who read the Bible and pray with their children and teenagers”.
These next weeks and months are the opportunity of the decade for parents to set new patterns that can continue when the busy life returns.
Parents can no longer delegate discipleship to church leaders and programs. We are all at home and young people need their parents to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). It is in this moment that parents can help their children know that the Lord is God (Psalm 100:3) and to love the Lord our God with all their heart and soul and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5).
Timothy Paul Jones’ research in Family Ministry Field God is helpful during this time. Ninety per cent of parents surveyed understood their responsibility to disciple their children, yet 55% only read the Bible twice or less a week with their children[1].
The 555 Challenge
Grow your home discipleship and encourage your family in faith with this 5 week Bible reading challenge
Interestingly, 68% of parents said they had no contact from any church leader to help them engage actively in their child’s development. Churches in Australia report similar statistics.
What if we could transform these statistics over the next three months? What if we put our energy into unlocking parents of different maturity levels to disciple their kids: encouraging, challenging and equipping them to read the Bible with their 5-year-olds, 10-year-olds, 12-year-olds and 17-year-olds. And in doing so, affirm the theological truth that they are privileged to be the primary disciple-makers of their children?
What if we used 80% of the time we spend running youth and children’s programs and instead sought to transform home discipleship in our church? The excuse of busyness is gone during a pandemic. With prayer and support, parents can overcome their fears and experience the joy of listening to God’s Word and praying together with their children.
Here are three ideas you can use to unlock home discipleship in your church.
Use the 555 Challenge
The latest gyms (F45, CrossFit) are all built around the principle that commitment to a challenge, over multiple weeks, in community with others, can change your life. The 555 Challenge follows the same idea. Built by Youthworks and Peter Morris from ReachGlobal, this free program allows parents to sign up for a 5-week home discipleship. For 5-minutes a day, 5 days a week for 5 weeks, the family commits to reading the Bible, praying and singing together. It is not slick or pretty. The goal is to build regularity and success for parents who want to disciple their children. Find out more about the 555 Challenge.
Give parents a framework
Kids Pray Family Resource
Help focus your family on our sovereign God with these prayer cards, specifically designed for young believers
I was rebuked a couple of years back when my oldest said, “Dad, I don’t want to read children’s Bibles anymore. Can we read the real Bible?” After burying my embarrassment, we started reading Mark’s Gospel.
Over the past few years, I have learnt two things as I have read the Bible with my children. First, I don’t need to ask perfect questions or give perfect answers.
As we begin each book, I come up with three simple questions. For Genesis, they were: What’s your highlight? What is God doing in this passage? What questions do you have? They are not perfect, but they do help us explore God’s Word and what he is doing.
The second thing I’ve learnt is that my children of all different age like to hear their Dad reflect on what he is hearing from God. I share my questions, highlights and thoughts.
We can help take the fear out of reading the Bible for parents by giving them a simple framework. You might like to get a group of parents together and think through the questions they could use as they read Mark with their children and teenagers during COVID-19.
Other resources
There are many other physical and online resources you can point parents to so they can read the Bible with their children.
Christian Education Publication’s Bible Bites provides 365 devotions for families.
The Our Daily Bread Journey Through series has lots of reading guides that are great to use.
Subscribers to Kidswise can access bookmarks and reading guides designed for various age groups.
Over the past weeks, lots of children’s and youth ministers are having a go at providing resources to help families read the Bible together. Have a look at this idea from Ian Morrison, Kids’ and Young Families’ Minister at Engadine and Heathcote Anglican, as an example to spark some ideas for your church.
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
What good could come from this mess? Imagine what our churches would be like if 90% of children (0-18 years of age) spent regular, honest and joyful time in God’s Word with their parents!
[1] Jones, T.P., Family Ministry Field Guide (Wesleyan Publishing House: Indiana, 2011), page 99.
