Teens and Spiritual Gifts: How to Help Discover Them
I don’t have it all figured out. I’m learning as I go. Life is a constant stage of growth, or at least it should be. Parenting is not easy, plain and simple, it ain’t easy. The discipleship of our children should start at home. We, the parents, should be the main source of discipleship of our children, not the church; the church should be our support in this process. My child’s kids’ church teacher or my teen’s youth pastor has a role to play in the discipleship of my child, but my wife and I should be the ones who are the main discipleship influence on our children.
Part of discipleship is helping a believer discover and use their spiritual gifts. God has gifted each one of us and that gift is to be used to encourage and build up the church. The church is not the building or an organization, the church is the living organism alive and growing because the church is each believer that is part of church.
So, if we should be helping believers discover their spiritual gift, that means I, as a parent, should be helping my child who has put his/her faith in Christ discover their gift and use their gift. How do I do that?
Observe. What do you see in your child that reflects one of the spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12? Are you watching for signs of God at work in the life of your child? The Holy Spirit indwells, has taken up residence, in your child the moment they put their faith in Jesus as their Savior. The Spirit works in the heart of a 10-year-old just like in the heart of a 40-year-old. The Spirit is active in their life, keep an eye out.
Exposure. Give your child opportunities to witness ministry in your church. Point out when you see someone serving your church. “There’s Miss Marge. Miss Marge just delivered a meal to the Johnson’s home because they just had a new baby.”
Test Drive. Let your child test drive ministry. Bake some cookies and take them to the shut-ins that are members of your church. Have him hold the door open as people arrive to kids church on Sunday. See if there exists a possibility for your older child to help serve in a younger kids’ classroom. Help clean the church, set up chairs, greet guests. Look at the current ministry teams in your church and see how your child can get some experience in those ministries.
Model. More is caught than is taught. Your children and my children need to see us with our sleeves rolled up and serving the church. My sons will learn what a man, father, husband is by watching me, good or bad. My three kids will learn what it means to serve the church by watching me and their mom. If you are serving in some way and they can come along and watch you serve please let them do it.
Church leaders, we should be helping our parents discover how to disciple their children. What steps is your church taking? I would love the opportunity to come to your church and help equip parents to be the disciplers of their children.
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This article originally appeared here.
