Part of what I’m thinking about for fall...

What I’m thinking about for Fall is parents and their kids. Especially, how can Christian parents help to build faith into their children? So I asked my Wednesday night class to come up with a list of things that, they believed, helped to “build faith.” (Let the reader be aware, I know the Holy Spirit creates/gives faith. My question was really about what kinds of things might encourage the transaction between the Holy Ghost and our children and other, non-believing people who need to trust Jesus). Here is what they come up with:

Study
Pray
Trails and tribulations
Modeling
Listen
Observe – others – responses- behaviors
Bible – stories of faith
Step off the cliff
Small groups (see observe)
Memorizing Scripture
Meditating
Persevering
Claim the promises of God
Persecutions
Praise
Teach
“Being” still
Experience
Surrender – Turn It Over to Jesus
Train like a green beret

To this great list, I added the spiritual disciplines as described by Dallas Willard:

Traditional Spiritual Disciplines:
Abstinence

Solitude
Silence
Fasting
Frugality
Chastity
Secrecy
Sacrifice

Engagement
Study
Worship
Celebration
Service
Prayer
Fellowship
Confession
Submission

This Fall, I’m hoping we can open new fronts in the fight for faith. I’d like to see us offer a class for the parents of elementary children that is based on the question, “How can I bring my child to faith?” I imagine it to be a class filled with testimonies by others who have grown children who believe.

Then I’d like to see a class for junior high parents about the unique challenges they face and how they might implement new strategies in order to create an environment where faith can flourish. This includes, in my thinking, special emphasis on the on-line lives of their children and how to establish fact from fiction in the lives of their kids.

I know for sure that Brent and I will be working very hard to continue to improve our junior high confirmation ministry.

We’ll also begin new ventures into the faith lives of the post-high school/college students.

Please pray for us. We all pray for these kids and we want them to know Jesus. But we have miles to go before we can sleep... Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ