As we head towards Mother’s Day and then Father’s Day, I think of the Family Life Ministry of the church.

God places responsibility on both children and parents:

• Children – “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  Honor your father and mother” (Eph. 6:1-3).
• Parents – “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).  Deuteronomy 6:4-9 provides a good pattern for the consistency with which a parent is to nurture children in the ways of the Lord.  Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp looks at parenting as more of a discipleship process than merely a caretaking role.

The church should not be usurping the responsibility of parents for instructing their children in the ways of the Lord.  Rather, the church should be holding them accountable and training them to do their God-given part.

What are we doing in the church to encourage healthy parent-child relationships?

There are many good resources for family life.  

What are some you have found to be effective?

This entry was posted on Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Family Life Ministry, Mothers's & Father's Day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.