Discipling Children
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, and when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates."
All over the world, I find that most parents are not discipling their children or looking for them to be discipled. When I ask why this is, in any culture the conclusions are the same. Primarily, most parents were never discipled themselves, and without any modeling or resourcing they do not know how to go about it. Many of them have not been discipled even in adulthood, and so the cycle continues down the generations.
Sadly, the church has colluded with this, albeit for the most commendable reasons, taking upon itself the primary task of overseeing the child's spiritual development. Parents are left feeling inadequate and dependent on the children's workers. They do not see themselves as God's chosen and anointed for the task.
Then there are many who never consider that their children need discipling. They are happy that they have been born again and presume that everything else will now safely wait until they are older. It is quite remarkable that this principle is not applied to other profoundly important areas of their children's lives. Sadly, they have not been told or understood the value of discipling, the scriptural command to pass on the lifestyle that is based on Godly values!
So why do children need discipling?
Basically, for the same reasons as adults! Each child is a unique, profoundly precious individual in the eyes of God and their parents. That individuality needs to be recognized - they need someone who knows where they are in their relationship with Jesus and the problems they are facing, someone who will nurture them, just as they do in every other area of their young lives. God has a unique plan for each one!
The way forward must start with the parents, though, if the children come from unchurched homes it may be another adult. They need to be supported, equipped, and resourced for one of the most important roles they will have... discipling a child.
Just like adults, children need a track of their own, and one that will give them the opportunity of increasing their love for God, their love for each other, and their love for those who are lost to Jesus.
Discipleship Resources: Living With Jesus