Our job and the parent's role
Unless we equip the parents for the work of ministry in the home our efforts on Sunday are often met with minimal fruit. I'm sure many of you have noticed the "Grown Up Sheets" that we have begun handing out to our parents at the end of class. This sheet provides short devotional for our parents to take their children through related to the lesson their children learned on Sunday. Please be encouraged by the following email from one of our parents:
"..I am especially thankful for the new curriculum. Each day, we begin school with that day's "Get Into The Story." It is such a blessing to have this and have a guide to not just teach him of the Word but how the
Gospel is woven throughout scripture and to do so in a way a child can understand. Also thankful for the questions and especially the answers :)
But today was special...we read Isaiah 1:18 and went through the whole devotional and did the prayer, thankging God for making a way to wash our sins and asking for grace to want to wash our sins away. I pray and Keenan repeats. When we were done, he surprised me and said "Mommy, I want to pray." So I told him to go ahead. And he prayed this: "Jesus, please forgive me of my sins and make me be like you."
Your efforts are bearing fruit and I as a parent am eternally grateful!
Thank you for all your hard work!"
Be encouraged teachers!
Attached is a quote by Richard Baxter on the importance of enlisting the parents in the work of ministering to children.
Richard Baxter in THE REFORMED PASTOR (1656),
abridged and translated by my Pastor John Swanson
"How can a church be successful at building spiritual life in the people if that work is done by pastors alone? How can a church flourish spiritually if parents (especially fathers) neglect their duty of training their own children, when this is the primary way they can help their pastor? If God uses the work of a pastor or other leader to begin to awaken a person spiritually, a family that doesn't care about spiritual life, never seeks God in prayer together and spends all its time together pursuing pleasure in this world will often smother God's Word and always hinder it. However, if you could get parents to do their duty, what an abundance of good might be done! I plead with pastor and church leaders, therefore, if you desire the spiritual growth of the people in your church, do all you can to motivate and equip parents to seek God as a family in Bible reading, instruction (in doctrine), worship and prayer"
"..I am especially thankful for the new curriculum. Each day, we begin school with that day's "Get Into The Story." It is such a blessing to have this and have a guide to not just teach him of the Word but how the
Gospel is woven throughout scripture and to do so in a way a child can understand. Also thankful for the questions and especially the answers :)
But today was special...we read Isaiah 1:18 and went through the whole devotional and did the prayer, thankging God for making a way to wash our sins and asking for grace to want to wash our sins away. I pray and Keenan repeats. When we were done, he surprised me and said "Mommy, I want to pray." So I told him to go ahead. And he prayed this: "Jesus, please forgive me of my sins and make me be like you."
Your efforts are bearing fruit and I as a parent am eternally grateful!
Thank you for all your hard work!"
Be encouraged teachers!
Attached is a quote by Richard Baxter on the importance of enlisting the parents in the work of ministering to children.
Richard Baxter in THE REFORMED PASTOR (1656),
abridged and translated by my Pastor John Swanson
"How can a church be successful at building spiritual life in the people if that work is done by pastors alone? How can a church flourish spiritually if parents (especially fathers) neglect their duty of training their own children, when this is the primary way they can help their pastor? If God uses the work of a pastor or other leader to begin to awaken a person spiritually, a family that doesn't care about spiritual life, never seeks God in prayer together and spends all its time together pursuing pleasure in this world will often smother God's Word and always hinder it. However, if you could get parents to do their duty, what an abundance of good might be done! I plead with pastor and church leaders, therefore, if you desire the spiritual growth of the people in your church, do all you can to motivate and equip parents to seek God as a family in Bible reading, instruction (in doctrine), worship and prayer"
posted by Mike Bradshaw at 3:40 PM
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