6. Get your child connected to a leader at church. I have found that normally God, in addition to a child’s parents, will bring a caring leader into a child’s life. I look back at my children’s lives and in both of my sons’ journeys, God brought a leader into their life that reinforced what we were trying to see accomplished in their spiritual journey.
It may be a small group leader or a young adult or a godly deacon or a youth pastor that God sends you to help children succeed spiritually.
7. Focus on relationship before rules. You’ve heard this statement before.
“Kids don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
This is so true. Rules are important. But relationship must come first if you want kids to listen and obey what you are asking them to do.
When you focus on relationship, it opens the heart of a child to receive what you are trying to convey to them.
8. Take the long look. Encourage parents to sit down and make a list of who they want their child to be when they graduate from college. What kind of character do they want their child to have? What do they want their child to believe? What do they want their child’s relationship with God to look like? What do they want their child to know about God and the Bible?
Then parents can take the list they have made and focus on bringing those things into their child’s life as they grow up.
9. Teach children to establish their own walk with God. As children grow, parents should begin to encourage their children to develop their own spiritual disciplines. Can you imagine a 12-year-old still sitting in a high chair and eating baby food? That wouldn’t be healthy, right? The goal of every parent should be to teach their child how to feed themselves spiritually.
Spiritually it should be the same way. Parents should help their children establish their own walk with God. The older they get, the more they should walk with God themselves. This doesn’t mean that you stop praying for your child when they get older, it simply means that you teach them to become the primary source of their own spiritual growth.
10. Celebrate their spiritual milestones. Milestones are markers on a child’s spiritual journey. These are celebration points in the decisions a child makes. Some examples are…
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Parent and Child Dedication
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Bible presentation
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Faith commitment
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Elementary graduation and transfer over to middle school ministry
When you celebrate these milestones, it makes a huge impact in the child’s spiritual life. You could equate them to hitting a home run. It can be a game changer for the child’s spiritual journey.
As a ministry leader, I know your heart beat is to see kids grow up to love Jesus and follow Him. Implement these 10 steps and you can see it happen as you partner with parents.
This article how to help children succeed spiritually originally appeared here.
