As we seek to disciple our children it is important to help your child understand that their relationship with God isn’t composed of a one time decision to place their faith in Jesus, but it is a continuing relationship. In order to help our children cultivate their relationship with God, it can be helpful to look at some common components of a child’s relationship with God. This is by no means a comprehensive list, or meant to imply that every child experiences these. But by looking at these phases I think we can discover ways to encourage our children in their own personal relationship with God.
Some common components of children’s relationship with God:
Welcoming Jesus into their life. For some children this is done at a young age and is a memorable moment. For others it a journey of discovery where they realize their need for a savior.
Wanting to tell others. Kids don’t have the same fears that adults do. So when Jesus changes their lives they want to let the world know. Like the ski instructor my oldest son asked if he knew Jesus because, “if he fell going off one of those jumps and died, a relationship with Jesus is all that would matter.”
Learning from church, parents, and other influences. This what happens weekly in Bridgekids. It is also learned through prayer times at dinner and bed times as well as times when we are less intentional, but show our kids how we interact with God.
Interacting with God with adult guidance and example. This could be a guided devotional time, or questions to your child about how they view God and how He interacts with their life and world events that they are aware of. Questions like does God ever speak to you? How does he speak to you? What does he say? can be helpful.
While preparing for our family’s first missions trip to Mexico everyone on the team was asked to write a story of something God had done in their life. With this guidance my youngest son wrote that he was in our car during a thunderstorm and was very scared. His mom told him to pray to God. He did and God protected him from the storm. What a powerful God story!
Interacting on their own with continued encouragement. This is the process where you as a parent can help your children gain independence in their reading of God’s word and prayer. It doesn’t mean you stop asking questions or giving them gentle reminders. I think it is also important to not turn this into a religious requirement, but instead encourage it as building the most important relationship of their life.
Owning of their faith. I see this most often in the middle and high school years. It’s not that they didn’t own they faith before now, it’s just that it has a whole new meaning at this stage of life. They are seeing that their faith influences their behavior and might result in criticism from friends. Teens are also desiring and experiencing more freedom from their parents. They are realizing that they need to live out their own faith in their own life.
Parents, you are no less important at this stage. Your encouragement of your children’s spiritual growth continues to be vital.
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