Equip Parents & Grandparents - Give Them Resources . . . Illustrate My Own!

One of the best things you can do to see children reached for Jesus and then help them grow in their walk with Him, is to equip parents and grandparents, so they are able to pass on a heritage of faith to the children they love. No matter how much time you put into your Children’s Ministry, you will never have as much time, and therefore as much influence, as the parents and grandparents, so it only makes sense to spend time, significant time, focused on intentionally equipping them so they are able to pass on their faith.

This is not to say anything else you do does not matter, because it does. You will always have children who do not have believers for parents or grandparents; clearly those parents/grandparents will not be able to pass on faith. You will also have parents and grandparents who think it is the church’s job to teach their children and are not willing to do it.

But, you will also have parents and grandparents who will teach their children and grandchildren the Bible; they just need to know how to do it and what to use. This is why it matters so much for you to be intentional when it comes to training parents and grandparents and when it comes to finding and recommending resources which they may use at home to pass on a heritage of faith.

To help you with this, I’ll focus in the coming months on resources you may share with the parents and grandparents in your ministry. Today I’m starting with a resource I wrote – it is one parents and grandparent could use with their children/grandchildren to help them learn about Jehoshaphat and how he chose to obey and follow God.

My Illustrate My Own Unknown Bible Hero - Jehoshaphat book, shares the true account of Jehoshaphat – and provides space on each page for parents, grandparents and children to work together to illustrate their book. This is a great way for them to work through the Bible account together, talking about what happened, why he made the choices he did and how God answered his prayers. The could plan to spread out their illustrating over the summer, or a weekend if they prefer, but encourage them to spend time talking about Jehoshaphat and how he chose to be faithful to God!

Resources like this provide a hands-on way for parents/grandparents to share God’s Word with the children they love. They do not have to be artists – even stick characters are fine. The point is to use the book as a tool to help parents and grandparents have some very important faith-conversations with the children they love to pass on a heritage of faith!

And, you could have an event where you introduce Jehoshaphat to the families I your church, present a drama of the Bible account and then have families begin working together to illustrate their own book!

This is just one example of a tool you could give the families in your ministry to help them make the most of the influence they have over the children they love and show them how they truly are able to be intentional in passing on their faith!