Introducing ‘Timeless Parenting’ Episode 3.

As Christian parents, our deepest desire is for our kids to know, love and follow Jesus along with us. We want them to enjoy being part of our local church family with us. And as they grow towards adulthood, our great hope and prayer is that they would continue on in the faith, making it their own for life.

Did you know that sociologists have studied ‘faith retention’ in children? Researchers have tried to work out what are the factors common to children who go on to share the faith of their parents. Of course, there are no guarantees or ‘silver bullets’. Ultimately, our children’s faith is a gift of God. We need to remember the words of Scripture:

‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.’ (Ephesians 2:8–9)

Keeping this in mind, there are certain things which the research suggests are common to children who retain the faith of their parents. Surprisingly, having daily family devotions is not one of them! And neither is having a group of Christian peers. While these things have an important role to play, they don’t make the top of the list.

In the third episode of the Timeless Parenting podcast, you can listen to our conversation with Al James from Youthworks on the topic: ‘How can we help our kids stick with Jesus?’

Listen, be encouraged and share it with your friends.

You can also find our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other platforms.

Mothers Union Sydney runs an annual seminar about Christian life and parenting. Listen to talks from previous seminars on Soundcloud.

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If you want to get in touch with us to offer some feedback or suggest a topic, you can write to us at: timelessparenting@youthworks.net

Timeless Parenting is brought to you by Growing Faith, a ministry of Youthworks Media, and Mothers Union Sydney.