The goal of parenting is the glory of God.
We are parenting to raise Jesus worshippers. We are parenting to raise our 4 year-old and our 17 year-old to still be following Jesus when they are 22 and 35. This is only happens by the grace of God. God calls us the primary sharers of the gospel of grace to our children for it is only through the gospel that our kids will be changed to live for Jesus.
With that said, what are the practices of families where kids continue to follow Jesus into adulthood?
I recently posted a blog called Parenting: Creating a Climate of Conversation in the Home. I argued for building your home around small daily deposits of conversation about all things that pertain to life and godliness, rather than just living one “big talk” to the next. Many of the issues that we need “big talks” for can be lessened, or worked through more graciously, if we were continually having a smaller conversations about faith, fears, doubts, hopes, the gospel, and living for God’s glory.
With that said, I want to point you to a recent study done by Lifeway. Their research in this study was to find out the most common practices in Christian families where the children continue to stay faithful to Christ even as young adults (this was measured with thing such as identifying as a Christian, sharing faith, remaining in church, reading the Bible). Trevin Wax summarized the findings in this short article. It is worth your time. I think you will find it simple, obvious, but so often missed in our families. Click here to read the article. Enjoy!
May you and your family continue to pursue Christ together!