Jared Kennedy recently posted 12 teachable moments from yours truly, (#s 1-10), Pat Aldridge (#11), and Mark Driscoll (#12). I hope they encourage you in your parenting journey.
Jared Kennedy gives some helpful financial principles and devotions to walk through with your kids. These devotions would be a great supplement to a church-wide series on stewardship.
I just got a copy of the ESV GROW! Bible from a friend of mine. I love it! It’s designed specifically for children ages 8-12. One of the coolest features is the “Cross Connections” boxes that are scattered throughout to help kids understand the centrality of the cross in all the Scriptures. Another feature called “4U” is great for explaining the text and how to apply it to a child’s life. I can’t wait to read it with my 7 and 9 year old girls.
It’s been a great month of SEEDS! LBC members, spread the word about this great ministry to children and families on Wed. nights at 6:15. And parents, come to Parent Chat on Oct. 5th as Pastor Tony speaks on the Foundations of Parenting.
John Bird with an interesting critique of Elyse Fitzpatrick’s new book on parenting, Give Them Grace:
If applying the gospel can be overdone, these authors do it proudly: “We’ve encouraged you to dazzle [your children] with the message of Christ’s love and welcome, and then when you think that surely they must be tiring of it, go back and drench them with it again.”
The only problem with this is that when we apply the gospel to every event in life, and especially when we use it to correct, children will tire of it. Not every moment needs to be a “teachable moment.” Do we need to bring up Jesus’ agony on the cross every time our child acts like a child?
The authors give an example of how we might apply the gospel to a child who pouts after losing a baseball game: “Yes, losing is difficult….Jesus Christ understands losing because he lost relationship with his father on the cross….He’s using this suffering in your life to make us both look up and see his love.”
Besides the superficial view of suffering in the above quote, this loose way of applying the gospel, especially when often repeated, takes the power out of the message and can weary the children. Something sadder than a child growing up never hearing the good news is a child who grows up hoping to never hear it again.
I’m curious. What are your thoughts? I encourage you to read Bird’s entire review of the book as he ends on this note:
Still, the most important things to be said about this book are that it leaves room for failure, emphasizes the superiority of the gospel over the law, and is primarily about imperfect parents glorifying a perfect God (rather than themselves or their children). These things put Give Them Grace above many other Christian parenting books.
The first few weeks of our SEEDS ministry has gone really well! We’ve looked at the big story of Scripture, Creation, and now the Fall. Thanks to each of you who serve in this ministry to children and families! You are appreciated!
Brian Croft with a great piece of advice for every pastor:
Pastors use a variety of tools to prepare their sermons. Commentaries, Greek/Hebrew texts, language lexicons, biblical theology books and other sermons on a passage all aid the preacher in his preparation for his weekly sermon. Here is a tool that will probably not be taught in a seminary class, but has been one of my most unexpected, yet helpful tools for my weekly sermon prep. Here it is:
“The insights of my children on the passage I am preaching as I read it with them throughout the week”
