We Know the Truth - Make it a Priority

Barna Research Group has a new study on how churches view their role when it comes to handing confident faith to children. I highly recommend reading the full report - you will find it at this link, but while 99% of church leaders say parents/family are the ones responsible to hand down confident faith, only 20% train parents/family to hand down confident faith and just 10% provide resources for them to use. They said; "Despite the fact church leaders overwhelmingly agree parents are most responsible for a child’s spiritual formation and development, the data demonstrate how churches place little emphasis on training and equipping said parents. In fact, only about one in five clergy (20% Protestant, 17% Catholic, though this number is higher for larger churches) say they prioritize training for parents, and even fewer provide parenting guides or other resources (15% Catholic, 10% Protestant)."

How is this possible? If we know parents/grandparents are most responsible for handing down confident faith, why isn't equipping these parents/grandparents so they are able to do this effectively a higher priority? Clearly we need to be focusing on doing this.

If the church made this a priority, then publishers would rush to fill the gap and provide resources for the church to use in equipping parents/grandparents in handing down confident faith. We need to ask publishers for these resources and we need to use them.

Happily, there are some resources currently available for the church to use in equipping parents and grandparents so they are able to hand down confident faith - check this link for information on the Life on the Goldilocks Planet series - and get it to use with the families in your church!