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Is Your Church Reaching Single Moms?
Every year we set aside a day to celebrate our mothers and the wonderful, women who’ve provided nurturing care and support. While we take the time to celebrate motherhood, I want to also take a moment to call us to support our single mothers. Not just once a year, but all year round. The Life of the Single Mom—a ministry for singles moms—shares on their site some revealing stats about single moms in America: 2/3 of single moms do not attend church Only 1% of the country’s 300,000 evangelical churches has a sustainable single-parent program 1/3 of single moms live in poverty 75% of all government assistance is received by…
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WHY IS IT SO HARD TO RAISE UP A GODLY GENERATION?
If as teachers and parents our faith is in Jesus, our text book is the Bible, we’re indwelled by the Holy Spirit and want God’s will for our children, why are so many of our grown up children leaving the church? Why is it so hard to pass on our faith to the next generation? Dr. Paul David Tripp encourages us to look for the answer in the Gospel message, “Parenting is a sinner seeking to give guidance and wisdom and grow a sinner. No wonder it is hard. No wonder we need God!” The more I hear what Dr. Tripp has to say, the more I am convinced that…
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WHO DOES GOD WANT TO TRAIN OUR CHILDREN?
I was encouraged, by a dear friend, to read the article, “Five Reasons Why the Children’s Minister Is the Staff Position in Greatest Demand.” Here is the link to the article: http://thomrainer.com/2018/02/five-reasons-childrens-minister-staff-position-greatest-demand/ Most of the comments were from people concerned about who they thought should be teaching our children about God. I was left with the question in my own heart: Just who is God holding responsible to teach our children and what does it mean to meet that responsibility? There are very few easy answers when it comes to raising children. Take schooling for instance… Children are schooled in public, private, and boarding schools; while still others homeschool. We…
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Authority! How is That Working for You?
God blesses His people with authority. But how well are we wielding it? One of my high school teachers was disciplining her children over a broken vase, not sure which one had broken it, she told them that God had been watching and knew which one of them had done it. The daughter told her mom that God hadn’t talked for a long time and she was counting on that to continue. What we think about authority makes a difference in our relationships. 1 Peter 2:12 says that we are being watched.Our actions often result in how others judge God. This is true, especially with children. Look at the human…
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Teaching Children Safety in Relationships.
A child doesn’t have to be burned to learn that fire is dangerous. It’s not necessary to be hit by a car to learn that a street is not a safe place to play. Children need consistent reinforcement of truth to learn it. For most children, this will be enough to shape their thinking and influence their actions. While they are very young we take them by the hand moving them out of danger while reinforcing with our words, “It’s hot, don’t touch it or it will burn you. It is dangerous to go into the street. That is a no! This is a yes.” Our actions and words influence…
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ASKING QUESTIONS THAT CHANGE LIVES
From the time we are old enough to form a question, we devote all our time and energy to finding the right answers. The devastation a child feels, from having the wrong answer when asked a question in front of their class, clarifies the importance of a right answer. Children ae pushed forward in a pursuit of knowledge as though finding the right answers guarantees success. Answers are necessary. Right answers are preferable. But the right answer is only as valuable as the question is good. How many times did Jesus answer a question with a new question? Answers are important. But nver underestimate the power of learning to ask…
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Christian Parenting Mistakes: #5 Not Helping Them Embrace Their Spiritual Gifts
Just as sad as mistakenly raising cultural Christians who know the talk but can’t walk the walk because they have not yet accepted Christ as Savior, is the mistake of having a child in our family or classroom who has accepted Christ as Savior and yet we don’t help them discover and use their spiritual gifts. We hamstring their spiritual muscles and hamper their growth in Christ when we don’t help them learn how to spiritually exercise. When a person believes in Christ He is placed into the body of Christ. He is born again and given spiritual gifts. However, most churches function as though these gifts can only be…
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Christian Parenting Mistakes: #4 Raising Cultural Christians
The difference between religion and life in Christ, which is what God intended in Christianity, can be summed up in one word, RELATIONSHIP. We must guard against just handing down our rules and ethics like a religious preference. Christianity is not inherited or genetically passed on from one generation to another. It is not a way of life that is taught because how we live doesn’t make us Christians. Being a Christian determines how we live. We cannot give anyone a relationship with God. Relationship is personal. Relationship must be developed by the individuals at a personal commitment level. Christian parents are sadly mistaken when they think that if they…
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Christian Parenting Mistakes- #1 Rules versus Relationship
When teaching a group of missionaries’ children about our identity in Christ. I talked about God as our Father. I read to them the verses in Hebrews 12:5-11 NET Bible "And have you forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons? ‘My son, do not scorn the Lord’s discipline or give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son he accepts. . .’ I talked about how God as creator is the expert about what is best for us. He says that for a parent to love their children well they must both train them in the ways…
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Want to Destroy Your Family? Be a Perfectionist
This week I'm happy to have as my guest Dani Ross. She's a wife and a mother of three young boys living in Flower Mound, Texas, pursuing a double masters degree at Dallas Theological Seminary in Christian Leadership and Systematic Theology: I began my journey as a mom like most, staring into my baby’s expectant eyes with great anticipation for a sweet, sweet life to come. I was ready to tackle the wild, unknown world of parenting in a life I had preplanned. Expertly researched. The years of comparison with those who had come before me provided me with a nice tidy list of “I’ll nevers” kept in my back pocket.…
