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Helping Your Child Learn Personal Responsibility

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My wife and I decided that our children were getting old enough to leave them home alone for short periods of time, so we thought that a fifteen-minute walk down our country gravel road would be a good place to start. We told our children, “You have one job—safety! Make sure everyone is safe.” It seemed simple enough, and we thought, “What can go wrong in fifteen minutes when we are only a couple of blocks away?” It turns out that a lot can go wrong. When we turned into the driveway at the conclusion of the walk, our son came bursting out the back door, screaming at the top of his lungs, holding a rag over his mouth. When he removed the rag, tooth chunks fell to the ground.

After we left for the walk, the children decided to play baseball. In the house. With a full-sized bat and ball. Our son was hit in the mouth with the bat when he was rounding third, headed for home, and his sister had a major league-worthy bat flip after a solid single. Our children didn’t do so well with the small responsibility they were given. It was a teachable moment for our children. We talked about how freedom comes with responsibility, and those responsible with little are often entrusted with more responsibility. We spent thousands of dollars to repair our son’s tooth, but the repair always breaks off, leaving him with half of a front tooth. It is a visual reminder to our children that irresponsible decisions are costly and can be lifelong. God has used that experience, and our children have grown in personal responsibility.

Responsibility is learned through the combination of age-appropriate opportunity plus accountability. It is an art for parents to determine how much responsibility a child is ready to handle. We’ve tried to avoid two opposite ends of the spectrum, giving a child too much responsibility too early or not enough responsibility for their age or maturity level.

Responsibility is the fruit of accepting ownership for something and is displayed through initiative, dependability, and quality effort. Children are by nature irresponsible, so parents need to be prepared to provide unconditional love and see failure as an opportunity for growth. We’ve learned to celebrate small successes when a child is responsible, as this builds confidence, encourages the child to take good risks, and helps them believe they can accomplish difficult tasks.

When a child is young, the parent does everything for the child. Over time, responsibility needs to be transferred to the child so that by the time the child leaves home, they are responsible with time, tasks, money, and the demands of adult life. The ultimate goal is self-government, the ability to exercise all functions without intervention from an external authority.

We do not shelter our children from the consequences of failure, as this is a powerful teacher. If a child is irresponsible and breaks something, he or she must pay for it. Recently one of our children broke a plastic shelf inside our refrigerator door. The replacement part cost $48, which we could have purchased. Instead, our son had to earn the money and replace the item. In the process, he learned responsibility.

We purposefully provide opportunities for our children to be responsible for tasks that stretch them. Our daughter cooks dinner for the family and taught a younger sibling to read. Our pre-teen son played Taps on his bugle for his great-grandfather’s funeral. Our oldest son leads worship for the children’s ministry at our church. We have found that children meet, and often exceed, high expectations and feel honored to be entrusted with a big responsibility.

The opportunities to teach children responsibility are endless—every task, whether small or large, is a building block to teaching a child responsibility. Helping your child learn personal responsibility is an essential aspect of discipleship that will bear fruit in your child’s life and be a blessing to others. How can you help your child learn personal responsibility starting today?

Suggestions for Age-Appropriate Tasks to Teach Responsibility

Determine how much responsibility your child is ready to handle based on his or her maturity level. Some of these tasks may require supervision.

Ages 2-3

  • Pick up toys and books.
  • Dust with socks on their hands.
  • Help make the bed.
  • Put dirty clothes in the hamper.
  • Help feed pets.

Ages 4-5

  • Put away toys after playing.
  • Water plants.
  • Help with preparing food.
  • Help with putting away groceries.
  • Help with setting and clearing the table.

Ages 6-8

  • Take care of pets.
  • Sort and put away laundry.
  • Take out the trash.
  • Keep their room clean.
  • Sweep floors

Ages 9-12

  • Vacuum floors.
  • Load and unload the dishwasher.
  • Help prepare simple meals.
  • Operate the washer and dryer.
  • Clean the bathroom.

Ages 13-18

  • Prepare meals for self and the family.
  • Mow the lawn and do other yard work.
  • Deep clean the kitchen and bathrooms.
  • Wash and vacuum the car.
  • Shop for groceries and other essentials.

After having served as a pastor for nearly 20 years, Josh Mulvihill is now the Executive Director of the Church and Family Ministry at RenewaNation. He has a PhD in Family Ministry and he serves as the vice chairman of the Awana Board. He is the author or editor of 10 books on parenting, grandparenting, and family ministry. He and his wife, Jen, are homeschooling their five children at Prairie Hill Farm in Minnesota. Josh can be found at GospelShapedFamily.com. If you want to read more practical parenting advice, you will want to get the book that he co-authored with his wife titled “50 Things Every Child Needs to Know Before Leaving Home,” available at www.shop.renewanation.org.

Discipling Children Using Great Books

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“Oh please, read one more chapter!” Every parent or grandparent who reads with children has heard this request. Some of our fondest memories as a family are around great books read aloud together. We read until 1 a.m. to learn if Janner and Tink would escape from the fangs in the Wingfeather Saga and found ourselves laughing in one moment and crying in the next. We snuggled under warm blankets on the couch as a blizzard raged outside while reading The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. If the Ingalls could make it through that long winter, so could we! We cheered on Reepicheep for his courage in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and longed to be like him. Reading together bonds the family around a shared culture, builds shared values, creates lasting memories, and provides a great opportunity to communicate God’s truth to a child.

Great books are an incredible tool to disciple a child and should be part of your plan to help the next generation develop a biblical worldview. A great book is a doorway into a world of truth, goodness, delight, and adventure. It introduces us to people and places who would have remained unknown. Good books are extraordinary tools that help us to grow into a wise, mature, and godly person. There are few pleasures as wonderful as curling up with a child and a great book.

The Greatest Book

The Bible is the greatest book the world has ever known. It has sold billions of copies because it is the Word of God to man. JRR Tolkien, a believer, described to CS Lewis, a non-believer, the impact of the Bible on all other books, “The reason all the stories are the same is because there is a story underneath every story.” Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia, Frodo in The Lord of the Wings, and Janner in The Wingfeather Saga resonate powerfully because they are Christ figures whose story point us to the most wonderful story. The best stories resonate with the true gospel and the truth in books leads us to gaze toward heaven.

Before our children can glean from the wonderful riches of an excellent book, they need a deep and strong foundation from God’s Word. Utilize the Bible as your main source in discipleship. It leads a child to salvation, answers the big questions of life, teaches right and wrong, provides wisdom for life, and teaches sound doctrine that leads to right thinking on all other subjects. The Bible should be taught early and thoroughly so that it is impressed on the heart and mind of a child. The Bible is the strong foundation for providing a child with an excellent education. In previous times, no one would be considered literate without a basic knowledge of the Bible. Include the Bible in your family reading time. Make Scripture reading a routine. A children’s Bible is a great way to introduce the habit of Bible reading in an interactive way and when children are older, a transition can be made to a full text Bible.

We are people of the book. We are literary people. A book, the Bible, is the primary way that God has chosen for us to know Him. We want our children to be lovers of the book and lovers of books. We want them to be godly, know the Lord Jesus Christ, and love Him with their whole heart. If you read the right books alongside the great book, they can be building blocks to help our children be godly and wise for the price of a library card.

What Makes a Book Great?

John Piper once stated, “Read great books in light of the greatest book for the sake of the great commission.” Great books help us to set our affection on Christ and to accomplish God’s purpose in our life. Great books have substance, not just entertainment value. Books are tools to influence character, stir the imagination, to teach children to think, and to encourage integrity.

Great books expand our vision and alter our life. Allan Bloom, author of The Closing of the American Mind, states “The failure to read great books both enfeebles the vision and strengthens our most fatal tendency—the belief that the here and now is all there is.” Great books help us learn from those who have come before, to live in light of eternity, and to align our life with biblical morality.

The best books reflect real life. They contain heart-ache, sadness, death, sin, and problems. They also contain celebration, joy, life, salvation, and happy endings. They help us to savor life and understand pain. A great book is authentic to life and is able to captivate the imagination of a reader. Proverbs 25:11 states, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” The crafting of words to stir the heart, awaken emotion, and subtly communicate truth is a gift that the best books offer.

A great book has stood the test of time. Is there a reason a book is still in print one hundred years after being written? In addition, you can’t put a great book down. Is your child begging for another chapter? That’s the sign of a great book. A bad book is a big thief. While there are many wonderful, entertaining, or good books you could read to children or grandchildren, my encouragement is to only read the best of the best. Great books are the ones you will want to keep in your family library, provide as gifts to your children and grandchildren on their birthdays, read over and over, and will be cherished for years to come. The mark of a great book is when we catch our children reading it under the covers with a flashlight, after they were told to go to bed. It takes time and energy to find the best books, but it’s worth the effort.

What About Screens?

Great books can replace screens. The famous author Roald Dahl eloquently states, “So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install a lovely bookshelf on the wall. Then fill the shelves with lots of books.” Reading is an act of resistance and worldview shaping. You get to decide what you read. The screen decides what you see and watch.

How do you get a child to read books? According to Gladys Hunt, author Honey for a Child’s Heart, child will gravitate to the passions of parents, whether that is books or screens. She states, “If television is more important to parents than books, the children will likely choose the same….The allurement of the screen is no small thing, but television, for the most part, has betrayed its potential. It is responsible for dumbing-down and coarsening the fabric of our society. It keeps pushing at the edge of questionable behavior, and in many homes is a monster in the living room, all chairs facing the screen awaiting the next available amusement.” If we are never excited about books, why would our children get excited about them?

If screens dominate your home, make books a replacement. If you put out grapes alone, your children will eat it and love it. If you provide grapes and ice cream, children will choose ice cream. The same is true with books and screens. You have to remove screens so children love books.

Read Aloud

The best way to experience a great book is to read it aloud. Whether a child is five or fifteen, great books will capture a child’s attention. For those who think that I need a “boy’s book” for my boy or a “girl’s book” for my girl, consider the words of C.S. Lewis, “A children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story. The good ones last.” The great books transcend age, time, sex and can be read to an entire family.

A parent is a child’s best teacher and books read aloud are a parent’s best tool. There are few things more significant that you can do for your child or grandchild than read to them. No parent knows everything, so invite Francis and Edith Schaefer, CS Lewis, and George McDonald into your living room to help you shape the hearts of your family. Reading aloud books from these authors will create a rich learning environment in your home. Research has found that reading a story gives the brain similar network connections as actually living through an experience yourself. Reading aloud provides your children with what they long for most, time with you.

Your children already love stories. Harness that love. There is no such thing as a child who doesn’t like stories, so find the best ones. If they don’t love reading, it just means you haven’t found the right books yet. Children rarely stumble upon great books by themselves, they must be introduced to them, and you can do this through a read aloud.

What About Fantasy and Fairy Tales?

Read children fantasy and fairy tales. It will not create the false impression of the world they live in or deceive them to believe lies. Instead, it will do the opposite. CS Lewis states, “fairy land arouses a longing for he knows not what. It stirs and troubles him (to his lifelong enrichment) with the dim sense of something beyond his reach and, far from dulling or emptying the actual world, gives it a new dimension of depth.” GK Chesterton adds a compelling reason, “Fairy tales do not tell children dragons exist. Children already know the dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children dragons can be defeated.”

What a tragedy to never experience the worlds of Narnia, the Hundred Acre Woods, Wonderland, the Wild Wood, or Beatrix Potter. Give your children large doses of Roald Dahl, Marguerite de Angeli, and E.B. White. Read them stories with talking animals like The Green Ember and The Wind in the Willows. Enjoy epic hero tales of adventure like 100 Cupboards, Homer Price, and Henry Huggins. Fairy tales plant seeds of truth that find a way into the minds and hearts of children in unexpected ways.

CS Lewis received many questions about whether or not it was appropriate for children to read fantasy and believed, “Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage” and he added, “Let there be wicked kings and beheadings, battles and dungeons, giants and dragons, and let villains be soundly killed at the end of the book. Nothing will persuade me that this causes an ordinary child any kind or degree of fear beyond what it wants, and needs, to feel.” The person who disagrees cannot read the greatest book, the Bible, to a child for it is filled with death, blood, sex, and evil. This tells the reader, I am reading something that is authentic and true, for my knowledge of the world is one of death, violence, pain, adventure, courage and cowards, good and evil. To withhold that is to give our children a false impression of a world that does not exist and prepares a child for the battles he or she will face in the real world.

Reading is the doorway into all learning. Reading great books is an incredible tool parents and grandparents can utilize to help a child develop a biblical worldview. Give great books as gifts. Fill your home with the best books. Leave them all around the house. Children will see one, pick it up, and start reading. Let children read easy books and ditch books they don’t like. Make reading enjoyable! Let children see you reading. If you don’t know how to read aloud, start with a great audio book. Pay attention to authors and publishers you love. If you like one of their books, chances are that you will enjoy more. Chose a great book and begin to read it aloud to your family today!

Biblical Counseling

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Providing Hope and Help for Hurting Families

Ministry to families is more than training and resources; it must include the provision of hope and help to hurting families through care and counseling. God designed the family to be the source of our deepest loves, our most beloved relationships, and to provide care for the needs of its members. In a perfect would, we should associate the family with feelings of joy, the thought of home should bring to mind wonderful memories, and it should function as God designed it. Unfortunately, for a growing number of people, the family is a place of brokenness, pain, hurt, divorce, abuse, betrayal, and conflict. This is real family ministry, and we need to be prepared to provide hope in Christ and help from God’s Word.

Three Ways the Church Can Care for and Provide Counseling to Hurting Families:

1. Families ministering to families

Families need to be in community with other families in the church. There are many practical benefits when this happens, but a huge one is care and counseling. This will account for two-thirds of the needs that families have. Bedtime struggles, the basics of biblical discipline, and how to navigate media usage in the home are all topics parents can help one another with.

I’ve found that families ministering to families happens organically as they spend time together and get to know one another. Sunday morning discipleship classes, small groups, serving together, and church gatherings all provide opportunities for families to be in relationship with one another so that care can occur.

Families need a biblical vision for what relationships looks like in a congregation, and one way this is accomplished is by teaching the “one another” passages in the Bible. The phrase “one another” occurs 100 times in the New Testament; of those, fifty-nine times are specific commands teaching how to, or how not to, relate to one another. Obedience to these commands forms the basis for Christian community and care for one another. Here are a few of the “one anothers” that should shape our care for each other:

  • Love one another (John 13:34)
  • Honor one another above yourselves (Rom. 12:10)
  • Build up one another (Rom. 14:19)
  • Care for one another (1 Cor. 12:25)
  • Serve one another (Gal. 5:13)
  • Bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2)
  • Bear with one another (Eph. 4:2)
  • Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other (Eph. 4:32)
  • Look to the interests of one another (Phil. 2:4)
  • Teach one another (Col. 3:16)
  • Comfort one another (1 Thess. 4:18)
  • Encourage one another (1 Thess. 5:11)
  • Show hospitality to one another (1 Pet. 4:9)
  • Pray for one another (James 5:16)

I don’t know about you, but I would love to be part of a church that strives to live out these relational principles! Care for others is often messy, is rarely convenient, and it requires sacrifice, but it’s such a joy to both give and receive. Let us avoid centralizing all care in a congregation through the pastor and staff, but rather equip the saints for the work of ministry to one another.

2. Community and support groups

Community group and support group leaders are the front line of pastoral care and should be pastored and equipped with great intentionality. Community groups often take the form of a Bible study or an adult Sunday morning class. The individuals who lead these groups have opportunities on a weekly basis to care for the needs of others. The leader should create the kind of group that is attentive to the needs of others, provides the margin so that care can occur, and leads by example in caring for others.

One of the most effective ways to navigate specific, reoccurring needs is to establish a support group around a topic. Our church offers support groups for parents who foster and adopt, for divorce care, and for teen mothers, as well as Grandparents@Prayer (covers a wide variety of topics). The Bible gives the church a special call to care for individuals when their family falls apart or when someone finds themselves without a biological family. The Bible states, “God sets the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:6 niv). We are told to “visit orphans and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27). We have found support groups an effective way to do this as a church.

3. Pastoral counseling

Biblical counseling addresses the problems we experience as we live in a sinful and broken world. Counseling is the problem-solving side of discipleship. Biblical counseling is a Word-based ministry, based on the Bible, just like preaching. Preaching is giving truth to a wide audience. Counseling is giving biblical truth to a specific audience. One of the reasons the counseling load in today’s churches is so heavy is because our preaching is so light. Biblical counseling is the private ministry of the Word of God applied to specific needs of individuals.

The primary goal of counseling is maturity in Christ through repentance, trust, and obedience to God, and reconciliation with others. The focus of biblical counseling is righteousness. Sometimes the sin of a family member creates consequences for themselves and other times it creates consequences for their family members. Healthy families are not the goal of biblical counseling. Healthy families are a by-product of a right relationship with Christ, obedience to God, and surrender to Him.

The Ministry of Counseling

Biblical counseling is an instructional ministry. It is informed by Romans 15:14, where Paul tells the Roman church that they are “filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.” Paul tells this local body of believers they are competent to counsel one another because they are Spirit-filled believers equipped with the sufficient Word of God. Paul implies that the Romans had no need to go outside the church for counseling instruction, especially from unbelievers.

Biblical counseling is also shaped by 1 Corinthians 2:4–6, where Paul states that the message he gave to the Corinthian church was not based on the wisdom of this age or of men, but rather the wisdom of God. When we apply this passage to counseling, it means the foundation of our instruction is to be based on the wisdom of God from the Bible, not the wisdom of man found in secular psychology.

The king of all counseling passages is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:14, “And we urge you brothers, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all men.” Individuals have different counseling needs. Paul mentions four types of people that are helpful to consider.

Admonish the unruly. Unruly is a military term meaning to stray from one’s post. If you are unruly, you have broken rank and are out of line. What would this look like in Thessalonica? Some in the church thought Christ was coming back soon, so they decided not to help in the community. They broke from the expected pattern of community involvement and disengaged. Paul uses a strong word: admonish. This conveys sitting someone down face-to-face and saying, “Let’s get some things straight.” This is firm instruction. This is not dialogue, but authoritative input that one’s behavior is destructive and harms the community. Many of us shy away from admonishing someone who is wayward. It’s not easy to sit down with someone and say, “I care about you but the way you’re living is out of step with what God expects from you.” If anyone has loved you enough to have this kind of conversation, you know it stings, but it also produces the fruit of righteousness.

Encourage the fainthearted. For whatever reason, this person is discouraged. They are losing hope. They are seeing the negative side of life. They may be ready to give up. Encouragement for this person means that we are sympathetic and caring. The fainthearted don’t need a pep talk. They don’t need to be scolded. They need someone to get close to them, to speak tenderly, and to provide comfort. Encouragement for this person means to infuse heart, strength, and a will to continue. In the Thessalonian church there were some people who needed comfort over friends who had died (1 Thess. 4:13) and what would happen in the future (1 Thess. 5:1–11). This person needed to be refreshed and needed hope in Christ.

Help the weak. This means that we give aid. We provide assistance that helps someone to do something. The literal translation is “hold fast to the weak.” We won’t let them fall. This type of encouragement refers to those who will crumble under life’s pressure. This person has grown weary. Their resources in life do not allow them to make the next step. The idea is that with our help, they are able to move forward in life. This person needs someone to put their arm around them and say, “Together we can do this.” We can take the next step together. What did this look like for the Thessalonians? Paul was fearful that they would crumble under the pressure of temptation (1 Thess. 3:5). So what does Paul do to encourage them? He sends Timothy (1 Thess. 3:2). When life gets rough, we all need a Timothy!

Be patient with everyone. This sums up the three modes of encouragement in one. It reminds us that we are all still growing and that no one is perfect. Thankfully, God is not finished with us yet. Paul’s encouragement is that we bear with others and put up with them for a long journey. We are in a relational marathon. It requires a commitment on our end to admonish people when they step out of line, comfort others when they are faint of heart, and support one another when we are weak. We need to hang in there with people no matter where they’re at on the spectrum. Dealing with the unruly, the fainthearted, and the weak is not a quick fix. One conversation isn’t going to solve the issue. We are reminded to be patient in our counseling.

We have marriages, parents, and grandparents affected in each of these categories. Use them to diagnose what each person needs and the steps you will take to help them. Paul tells us the source of encouragement is our relationship with Christ, “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word” (2 Thess. 2:16–17 niv). Ultimately, it is Jesus Christ and the Bible that provide the hope and help to care for hurting families.

Your plan to minister to families should include a care and counseling strategy. Who will provide the counseling? What kind of counseling will they provide? How do families communicate a need for help? How will you train individuals to provide counseling? Which families are currently struggling in your church or school? What are their problems? Answers to these types of questions will help you begin the planning process for a counseling strategy. There are parents and grandparents in your church or school who are struggling to disciple their children or grandchildren because of problems in their home. God has given you the wonderful opportunity to provide hope and help to hurting families through care and counseling.

The article is an excerpt from the book Family Ministry: How Your Church Can Shepherd Parents and Grandparents to Make Disciples by Josh Mulvihill and is available at renewanation.org.

6 Questions to Evaluate if Children’s Ministry Curriculum is Biblically Sound

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There are many different children’s ministry curriculums to choose from, but many of them are Bible-lite, doctrinally-deficient, man-centered, and moralistic. We have to look past the marketing claims, sales pitch, and well-designed images to dig deep enough to understand the theology, educational philosophy, and teaching methods that function as the foundation the curriculum is designed upon. There are more than 200 children’s ministry curriculums to choose from and it can be overwhelming to sift through the options. Here are a few questions to help you assess curriculum:

    1. Are the materials used biblically faithful? Does the curriculum accurately teach passages of Scripture in context? Does the curriculum use a verse as a launch pad into a different topic? Does the curriculum make an object lesson the lesson? Does the curriculum use Bible verses as proof texts or passages of scripture as the foundation of the lesson? Are passages correctly interpreted? Who wrote the curriculum and what is their theology? We want to make sure that children learn the original intent and meaning of the Scripture they are studying.
    2. What is the focus of the curriculum? Is the focus on God and His story or man and his story? Is the curriculum God-centered or man-centered? Does the curriculum focus so heavily on rebellion and salvation that children don’t learn systematic theology or gain moral skillfulness from the grand narrative of Scripture? Does the curriculum lift the eyes of children to the greatness and glory of God or present a diminished view of God? How does the curriculum present morality and what is the connection to God (pay attention for legalism, licentiousness, moralism)? Does the curriculum teach children the whole counsel of God’s Word or a reductionistic version? Every children’s ministry curriculum has a focus and we must carefully assess if it is the focus of the Bible.
    3. Will children gain skills that will transfer into their life? Does the curriculum model how to read a passage of scripture, how to interpret it, and how to apply it to life? Does the curriculum teach children how to rightly handle God’s Word, read it, and memorize it? Are there skills that will transfer beyond the curriculum into the life of a child? Does the curriculum primarily teach children Bible stories or does it give them skills in how to correctly approach God’s Word? We want to use the time we have with children intentionally to help them develop sustainable Bible study habits and skills.
    4. Does the curriculum teach children to think biblically? Does the curriculum help children develop a biblical worldview about origins, purpose in life, view of God, the Bible, manhood and womanhood, marriage, the church, the person and work of Jesus, how to live in the world, the problem of sin, and salvation through Christ? Does the curriculum help children to think critically about the views of the world and test ideas according to the Bible? Do you notice cultural buzzwords or concepts that have crept into the curriculum? Children will not be faithful to a faith they do not understand and cannot defend.
    5. How will parents be supported in their God-designed role with their children? Does the curriculum include tools to communicate regularly and effectively with parents? Does the curriculum provide resources to help parents disciple their children at home? \Many curriculums unintentionally become the primary means of discipleship for a child so we want to support and encourage parents in their discipleship role.
    6. What is the educational philosophy of the curriculum? How does the curriculum define education? According to the curriculum, what is the purpose of educating children? Is there clarity about what education is, who is responsible for it, and how God commands us to educate children? What are the teaching methods that the curriculum utilizes and how does the curriculum connect these methods to scripture? Does the curriculum rely on video or live teachers? Does the curriculum use a one-sized fits all educational approach or are the different stages of a child’s development reflected in the curriculum? Many curriculums are marketed as easy-to-use and engaging, but children are not learning God’s Word or being transformed by it.

The next time you evaluate curriculum, use these six questions to help you evaluate a biblically sound curriculum that will shape the hearts and minds of children. Do your research and dig deeply!

Biblical Worldview is Available as an Audiobook

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A few months ago I was contacted by Charles Markert, who had just finished reading my book Biblical Worldview. He was impacted by the message of the book and convinced that it needed to become an audiobook so it could be listened to as well as read. Charles believed this so deeply that he offered to record and master the audio. The 6 hours and 29 minute audiobook is now available at Amazon, Audible and iTunes. Thank you Charles for your excellent work on this audiobook!

George Barna’s research suggests that extremely low numbers of children have a biblical worldview. His research suggests that less than 10% of children think, act, and live according to biblical principles. If true, that is a troubling statistic that should concern all parents, grandparents, and pastors. This book was written to help children develop a biblical worldview through the influence of family, church, and school. Here is a summary of the book.

In this brief book, you’ll discover what a biblical worldview is, why it matters, and how to establish this foundation in the life of a child. Filled with practical tools and ideas, Biblical Worldview will help you lead children to lifelong faith in Jesus and a fruitful ministry serving him in the world. It’s a helpful resource for parents, grandparents, teachers, and church leaders – anyone that leads children in their spiritual development. 

There is a battle being fought for the hearts and minds of children, and much is at stake. The world is working diligently to assimilate young people to its way of thinking. The beliefs our children develop inevitably shape their decisions and determine their eternal destiny. In a word, worldview is about beliefs. This book will equip you to help young people develop a strong biblical foundation and doctrinal framework for a biblical worldview. Biblical worldview is built on the foundation of the authority, inerrancy, and sufficiency of the bible. This book will help you establish this foundation in the hearts and minds of young people so that they trust the bible, think about life from a Christian perspective, and live according to biblical principles. 

Our worldview is developed as we establish beliefs about four critical topics: 

  1. Creation: How did I get here? What is my purpose? 
  2. Rebellion: What went wrong? Why is there evil and suffering? 
  3. Salvation: What is the solution? Where do I find hope? 
  4. Restoration: What happens in the future? How do we transform lives and change the world? 

These four pillars create the framework for a person’s worldview. It is critical that all four pillars of faith are firmly established and that deep-down convictions are developed around these biblical truths. Biblical Worldview is a serious call to shape the next generation’s beliefs with the bible. The aim of Biblical Worldview is embracing gospel truth for godly living. This book is a short introduction to biblical worldview and will equip you to help children develop a biblically-based view of life that will transform their homes, communities, and nations.

Two Curriculum Resources for Your Family, Church, or School

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Here are two resources that may be helpful for your family, children’s ministry, homeschool co-op, or Christian school.

The first resource is brand new from Elizabeth Urbanowicz of Foundation Worldview called Careful Thinking Curriculum. This curriculum was developed to equip 10-14 year olds with the basic skills they need to evaluate the truthfulness of ideas and set the stage for critical thinking in every area of life. As children learn basic skills in careful thinking, they quickly begin to recognize faulty ideas in the world around them. As parents, caregivers and educators, equipping our children to think well is a foundational part of discipleship. If you want to learn more about this curriculum you can click here.

The second resource is from Kids4Truth that focuses on teaching apologetics, biblical doctrine, and systematic theology to children. Available for pre-school aged children through 6th grade and comes with workbooks, teacher books, song books and other resources. These resources help children memorize God’s Word, understand what it means, and understand what they believe and why they believe it. If you would like to learn more about this curriculum you can click here.

Education Matters: Why Education Needs to be Part of Your Churches Ministry to the Next Generation

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Education matters. That’s a phrase that just about every Christian agrees with. Education matters because it influences what children believe, who they become, the choices they make, the friends they choose, and demands thirty-five hours a week of a child’s time for eight months of the year.

Yet, you wouldn’t know this at most churches. Education is overlooked, under-valued and the topic is ignored with a fervor so as not to offend parents. To speak about education is equivalent to blasphemy in many churches. An elder from a church I pastored told me, “You are not allowed to talk about education.” The common sentiment is to respect all educational choice as there is no one right decision for all parents.

Nicole Fulgham, author of Schools in Crisis, embraces the idea that there is no Christian view on education. She states, “There is certainly not a monolithic viewpoint that represents the ‘Christian’ point of view on public education.”[1] Tim Challies shares a similar perspective, “I find myself grappling with this thought: What if God doesn’t care a whole lot about how we educate our children?…One thing I’ve never heard anyone suggest is that maybe it’s just not that big of a deal. And, honestly, I am beginning to learn that way.”[2]

What if Fulgham and Challies are wrong? What if God does care about how we educate our children? What if there is a biblical perspective on education? Wouldn’t it be good for parents to know this and for churches to address the topic?

What does the Bible say about education?

Many people believe the Bible has little or nothing to say about education because the term never appears in Scripture. We only find a single reference to the word school in Scripture, Samuel’s school of the prophets.[3] Despite this reality, the Bible has a lot to say about education. The Bible has many other ways of referring to education such as knowledge, teach, learn, instruct, think, and mind. Here is a sample of what Scripture says about education:

  • Knowledge: The core task of education is to lead a child from ignorance to knowledge. The Bible’s chief concern in education is the knowledge of God, which is contrasted with foolishness (Prov. 1:7). Apart from God, knowledge cannot be properly understood and foolishness abounds. The Bible provides guidance regarding how to navigate godless knowledge. We are told, “Have nothing to do with godless myths” (1 Tim. 4:7). “Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called ‘knowledge,’ for by professing it some have swerved from the faith” (1 Tim. 6:20-21). Knowledge is never neutral; it is for or against God. “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4-5).

  • Teach: The Hebrew language is rich in words that have to do with instruction; at least thirty-four root words imply the idea of teaching, and the words teach and teacher are used in the Bible over 350 times. Biblical education is focused on the task of teaching the knowledge of God and obedience to His law to the next generation. The Bible is prescriptive regarding what children are to be taught. Here is a sampling of what God commands:

    • God’s law. “Teach them [God’s laws] to your children and children’s children” (Deut. 4:9). “Teach them diligently to your children” (Deut. 6:7). “You shall teach them [God’s laws] to your children” (Deut. 11:9).

    • God’s work and character. “One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts” (Ps. 145:4) “Tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done…which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children…so that they set their hope in God and not forget the works of God” (Ps. 78:5-6).

    • God’s Word. “How from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings [the Bible], which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching…” (2 Tim. 3:15-16). “Command and teach them these things” (2 Tim. 4:11).

    • The fear of God. “Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Ps. 34:11).

      • Learn: The words learn, learned, and learning appears in the Bible over 100 times. The Bible is concerned with what we learn. Christians are to learn to revere God (Duet. 14:23), to fear God (Deut. 31:12), to serve God (2 Chron. 12:8), what is good (Job 34:4; Titus 3:14), God’s righteous laws (Ps. 119:7), His decrees and commands (Ps. 119:71-73), prudence (Prov. 19:25), to do right (Is. 1:17), to control ones body (1 Thess. 4:4), to praise God (Ps. 89:15), wisdom (Prov. 30:3), the meaning and purpose of life (Eccl. 1:17), contentment (Phil. 4:11), and to learn the Gospel (2 Tim. 3:14-16). If God commands his followers to learn these things, doesn’t it make sense to choose to educate our children so that they learn these very truths?

      • Instruct: The Bible provides guidance about who is to instruct a child. Jesus states, “A student [disciple] when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). The biblical principle to recognize is that teachers reproduce themselves in their students. Children absorb the beliefs, values, and views of the teacher. Biblically, parents are given the role of educating a child (Eph. 6:4).

      • Think: The Bible teaches “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). What a child thinks about, he or she becomes. What does the Bible want us to think about? Here is how the Bible answers that question, “Meditate on God’s Word day and night” (Joshua 1:8). “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil. 4:8). Lastly, “Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:1-2).

      The biblical vision for a child’s education is centered on and saturated with God’s Word, God’s laws, God’s works, God’s character, the fear of God, and godly living. Many parents believe the fallacy that they can obey these passages of Scripture by teaching their children at home on the evenings and weekends, despite sending their children to a school that teaches God is irrelevant, even non-existent, and instructs children in secular morality and unbiblical ideas. Individuals who do this, compartmentalize education in a way the Bible never does and fail to understand there is no distinction between faith and learning. When education is viewed as reading, writing, and math while discipleship is seen as character formation, spiritual disciplines, and sharing faith—we create a false dichotomy the Bible never does and provide our children with an education that is foreign to Scripture.

      Why Include Education in Your Ministry to the Next Generation?

      More than ever, Christians need to know what the Bible teaches about the education of children and put it into practice. Unfortunately, many Christians have adopted a cultural perspective for the purpose and practice of education. The Christian community needs a renewed biblical vision for the education of the next generation. The Bible reminds us that “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18). It is critical that Christians capture a biblical vision for a child’s education. Parents need guidance from church leaders how to think biblically about education. Here are five reasons to include education in your ministry to children and youth:

      1. A Biblical Mandate: We must begin with Scripture and ask what are the biblical principles about education. God has given clear guidance in the Bible what, who, why, and how to teach children. God commands us to teach children His laws, His character, and His Word (Deut. 4:9; Ps. 78:4-8; Eph. 6:4). According to the Bible, God did not give the government the role of educating children. Education is a parent’s responsibility, with the support of grandparents and the church. Parents are to instruct children in the Lord, teach them God’s laws, and train a child to apply God’s truth to life. Parents have the freedom to partner with others to educate a child, but must do so in accordance with the principles given in the Bible.

      2. The Incredible Impact: Education is a powerful influence in the life of children. Children will spend 16,000 hours at school between K-12, considerably more time than in church. If pastors are serious about shepherding a child’s heart, then education is a non-negotiable aspect of ministry to the next generation. Modern day public education has scores of secular presuppositions underneath it, which are not understood or recognized by the majority of Christian parents. The approach of trying to overlay Christian beliefs to humanistic education is not successful for the majority of parents, nor is it biblical. Pastors are shepherds called to not only feed the flock entrusted to their care, but also protect the flock from false doctrine and wolves that would destroy faith in Christ. 

      1. A Means of Evangelism and Discipleship: Biblically, education is discipleship. It shapes what a child believes and who a child becomes. Christian education plays a critical role proclaiming the gospel to children, immersing children in gospel truth, training children for gospel living, and sending out children to transform culture through the power of the gospel. Paul reminds us of the critical importance of the centrality of Scripture in the education of children, “From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). When the church separated itself from the education of the next generation, it forfeited its position of influence in a child’s life and have steadily lost our children to the world in increasing numbers.

      2. Christ-Centered Relationships. Godly relationships with teachers and friends encourage wise choices, holy living, and obedience to God. God reminds us, “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Cor. 15:33) and “The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher” (Luke 6:40).
      1. A Priority in Church History: There is a long list of Christian leaders in church history who have emphasized the importance of Christian education and believed it was a critical component of their mission and ministry. They believed the church and Christian school were united in ministry and mutually dependent upon one another. For example, “The great church reformers—Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, Ulrich Zwingli, and others—gave as much energy to establishing Christian schools as they gave to reforming the church. To them Christian school education and church reform were inseparable allies. Neither, they believed, could succeed without the other.”[4] Martin Luther was a champion of Christian education. He states, “When schools prosper, the church remains righteous and her doctrine pure…Young pupils and students are the seed and source of the church. If we were dead, whence would come our successors. If not from the schools? For the sake of the church we must have and maintain Christian schools.”[5]

      Many Christians are uncertain why we educate a child, the purpose and goal of education, who is given the responsibility in Scripture, and how we are to accomplish the task. As a result, many Christians have unintentionally adopted an unbiblical view of education and take their educational cues from culture rather than Scripture. Pastors have an incredible opportunity to cast a biblical vision for the education of the next generation and help parent think biblically about a topic that is critically important to the evangelism and discipleship of the next generation. If you believe education matters, then it is time to prioritize it in your ministry to the next generation.

       

      [1] Nicole Baker Fulgham, Schools in Crisis: They Need Your Help (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 27.

      [2] Tim Challies, https://www.challies.com/articles/what-if-god-doesnt-care-a-whole-lot-about-how-you-educate-your-children/

      [3] Samuel G. Kahn, A Short History of Christian Education (Jerusalem: Yesodot Publishers, 1960), 116.

      [4] Paul A. Kienel, A History of Christian School Education vol. 1 (Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design Publications, 1998), xvi.

      [5] F.V.N. Painter, Luther on Education (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1889), 132-133.

Is Same-Sex Attraction a Sin?

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“Is same-sex attraction a sin?” This question was asked by a pastor to a group of high school students as part of a talk on sexual identity. My son attends this group, and after inquiring what would be talked about, the pastor invited me to join the group for the evening, so I did. His talk needed much clarity, so for my sons sake and others, I decided to write this post. His premise was three-fold. First, homosexuality is a sin. Second, the Bible does not address same-sex attraction. And third, same-sex attraction is not a sin. Let’s look at each of these briefly.

Homosexuality is a Sin

The Bible is clear that homosexuality is a sin. Of course, making that statement is about as enjoyable as a doctor telling a patient she has cancer. And it is received with the same range of emotions. Some weep. Others rage. And we are seeing both occur when brave men and women state what the Bible says, that homosexuality is a sin. But in case you are new to the topic, Leviticus 18:22 states, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul identifies homosexuality as sin in Romans 1:26-27 and in 1 Timothy 1:10.

Homosexuality, according to Romans 1:21-25, is the consequence of another more serious problem, which is idolatry. Here is the problem in a nutshell: humans spurn the Creator, refusing to glorify God or give Him thanks and worship creation instead of the Creator. Paul tells us that when people exchange the glory of God for creation that they exchange the truthfulness of God for a lie. God gives humans over to their own selfish desires, one of which is the manifestation of homosexuality. God giving individuals over to the depravity of their lusts is, in part, His judgment upon someone. The point of Romans 1:21-25 is not primarily that same-sex temptation and acts are a perversion of God’s good design. This is, of course, a true principle that comes from this passage. However, the main point that we must understand is that homosexuality is God’s act of judgment for idolatry.

Most of us probably know a family member or friend who is actively living in homosexual sin. If we wish to help them, which we should, then what they need is not therapeutic counseling or kid glove coddling. Their soul is in danger of hell and we must treat them with compassion but also great concern. Romans 1 tells us that homosexuality isn’t the problem. Worship is. Homosexuality exists because the worship of God does not. So this tells us where we need to direct our efforts. If we want to see a homosexual person turn from his or her sin, then we need to help them see and savor the greatness of God and beauty of Christ. What is needed is heart change based on repentance of sin and a new affection for Christ. Sin withers only when the Gospel is brought to bear on it. Thomas Chalmers states,

“There is not one personal transformation in which the heart is left without an object of ultimate beauty and joy. The hearts desire for one particular object can be conquered, but its desire to have some object is unconquerable. The only way to disposes the old heart of an object of affection is by the expulsive power of a new one” (The Expulsive Power of a New Affection).

Sin can only be conquered when Jesus is savored as more beautiful and satisfying than the sin. The Gospel motivates us to say no to sin rather than, “I can sin because I will be forgiven later.” We hate sin because God died for it and because we know that God never lets us sin successfully. So the point here is that we must wholeheartedly recognize that homosexuality is a sin. But we must go deeper. We must see that it is a result of idolatry and deal with the root issue.

Same-Sex Attraction in the Bible

The pastor’s second premise was that the Bible does not deal with same-sex attraction. This is about as true as saying the Bible doesn’t have anything to say about education, grandparenting, or the Trinity. If we pull out our trusty concordance, we will find that these words are rather scarce, even absent from the Bible all together. The same is true of same-sex attraction. Should we assume that the Bible is silent on this subject? To make such an assumption is erroneous. The Bible has a lot to say about education, grandparenting, and the Trinity as well as many other subjects that we will not find by name in a concordance. The problem isn’t the silence of Scripture, the issue is an exegetical fallacy of presupposing our own category or terminology on Scripture, not finding it, and claiming it isn’t present.

This is much the same as me trying to locate my son in our home and asking the other children where I may find Frank. To which they would tell me that Frank doesn’t live at this house and would tell me to look elsewhere. But if I asked my children where I may find Jay, they could point me in the right direction, maybe even tell me what room he is in, because his name is Jay not Frank. We must know the Bible’s name or category for a particular topic in order to properly find it. If we misname it or miscategorize it, we will think the Bible is silent when in fact it is not. The Bible’s name for same-sex attraction is sexual temptation. Once we understand this, suddenly the Bible has a lot to say about same-sex attraction.

Same-Sex Attraction is a Temptation to be Fought

This brings us to the third point, that same-sex attraction is not sin. On the surface, this is a difficult subject to gain clarity about. But when we address this topic using biblical language, it clears up the fog considerably. Let us ask the question on the Bible’s terms. Is same-sex temptation a sin? Now we have a category from which to answer this question from Scripture.

There is a biblical category for being tempted without sinning. It is true to say that temptation itself is not sin. James 1:14-15 makes a distinction between temptation that leads to sin and the sin itself. The feelings of same-sex attraction are not always active sin, but it is a desire for something sinful, so we must take great care with how we navigate this topic.

In Matthew 5:27-28, Jesus equated lust with adultery. This establishes an important biblical principle: if it is a sin to do something, it is also a sin to desire to do that same thing. Any desire for something God has forbidden is sin. Because the Bible states that homosexuality is a sin, it is also sinful to desire to commit homosexual acts.

Same-sex attraction becomes sin if it turns into lust. Once the attraction turns into a desire to do something sexually that God forbids, it has become sin in the heart. It is not wrong to think another person is attractive, but where is the line between attraction becoming lust? Same-sex attraction is a desire for something God has forbidden, and as such, it should not become a fire that we feed or a friend that is courted, but a temptation that is fought.

John Piper has some insightful words on the matter of same-sex attraction: “It would be right to say that same-sex desires are sinful in the sense that they are disordered by sin and exist contrary to God’s revealed will. But to be caused by sin and rooted in sin does not make a sinful desire equal to sinning. Sinning is what happens when rebellion against God expresses itself through our disorders” (Let Marriage Be Held in Honor).

Same-sex attraction is best understood as a temptation that can easily become a sin. If a thought or desire is allowed to turn into something more, it becomes a lustful sin. So what should a person do when a momentary same-sex attraction pops into his head? The Bible tells us to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). Here we get to the crux of the matter. Individuals need to be taught how to battle temptation, not coddle it.

How is the believer to defeat temptation? What does the Bible tell us to do with sexual temptation? The Bible tells us to flee from sin, to fight for purity, and to saturate our mind on God’s Word, guarding it from impurity. In sharp contrast to the world, God calls His people to be pure (1 Thess. 4:3-7). The Bible tells us that the heart is the battleground to conquer sexual sin, including same-sex attraction. To achieve victory, the focus must be on the internal first and then the external. Fighting against sexual sin and temptation is constant and difficult, but it is a battle that every believer can win if they rely upon the resources that God provides such as meditation on Scripture, devotion to prayer, and fellowship with the church. Christians of all ages need biblical tools to fight temptation so that we are not sent into battle without any weapons. 

In addition, the Bible speaks regularly about the consequences of sexual sin. In fact, this is one of the biblical methods of encouraging young people to defeat sexual temptation. Young people can be reminded of the long lasting consequences of sexual sin, such as death (Prov. 7:22-27), loss of wealth (Prov. 5:10), lifelong regret (5:11-14), and shame and destruction (Prov. 6:32-35).

Same-sex attraction may come “natural” to some people, but we all “naturally” desire things that are sinful. The presence of these desires is not an excuse to allow them to take up residence in our heart or to act upon them. Is it right for a “naturally” angry person to allow feelings of bitterness in their heart? Is it right for a “naturally” greedy person to desire their neighbor’s possessions? Of course not. We have the responsibility to resist temptation and to fight these sinful desires and so does anyone who naturally has a same-sex attraction.

Getting rid of sin is like getting rid of weeds. If weeds are allowed to grow, they will take over. If they are cut off at the ground, they will keep growing back. If we want to kill weeds, we have to pull them up at the roots. This is what we must do with sin and this is what must happen with same-sex attraction. We cannot deal with sin on the surface. We must root it out. The great puritan preacher John Owens once wrote, “Be killing sin or it be killing you.” It is foolish to take sexual desires lightly, entertain them in our mind, or overestimate our ability to resist temptation. We must flee sinful desires and aggressively attack sin in our life. The same is to be true for those who struggle with same-sex attraction.

The Lord designed sex as a wonderful expression between a husband and wife, but those who use sex selfishly or apart from God’s good design will experience much heartache and ruin. Same-sex attraction is the result of a broken creation and for that reason is sinful. Same-sex attraction is not the same as sinning, but it should be treated like all temptation to sin. If you are a Christian and have sinned sexually, know that God has forgiven you based on what Christ has done on the cross. If sin is confessed, God is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). May God empower us to have victory over sexual sin for His glory and our good.

Discipling Children: 8 Biblical Practices Every Family Can Do. Handout for Mega Con

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  1. __________________ ___________________
  • “Get wisdom, get insight” (Proverbs 4:5)
  • “Among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age…We impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (1 Cor. 2:6, 13).

What is wisdom?

Wisdom is _______________ _____ _____________. “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock” (Matt. 7:24).

Wisdom also means _____________ _________ ___________ _____ ___________.

Why is wisdom important for a child?

The book of Proverbs provides three compelling reasons.

  1. Wisdom leads to ____________________________. “Happy is the man who finds wisdom” (Prov. 3:13)
  2. Wisdom is the path to ___________________________. “He who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord” (Prov. 8:36)
  3. Wisdom is _________________________. (Prov. 16:16)

Key Tools

 

  1. ___________ ______ ____________ the Bible
  • “Teach these things to your children and children’s children” (Deut. 4:9)

The primary method to teach and disciple young people has been called ___________ _____________.

Consider a few practical thoughts:

  • Read ____________________________________
  • Read ____________________________________
  • Read ____________________________________

Your goal is to explain the Bible passage clearly and biblically, engage children in the process, and help them apply God’s truth to life.

Key Tools

 

  1. _______________ Telling
  • “Tell to the coming generation the glorious deeps of the Lord, and his might and the wonders he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob” (Ps. 78:4-5).
  • “Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord” (Ps. 102:18).

Key Tools

 

  1. Sharing the ______________
  • Aim for __________ ______________.
  • Have a _____________________.
  • Learn to communicate the __________________.

Key tools

 

  1. __________________ ___________________
  • Your goal is two fold:
  • Examples from the Bible include:

Key Tools

Gather good questions.

  1. What made you sad or happy today?
  2. What was your favorite part of the day?
  3. What made you laugh this week?
  4. What are you looking forward to this week?
  5. What rule was the hardest to follow this week?
  6. What is your favorite color, hobby, city, smell, food, vacation, drink, game, sport, movie, show, music group?
  7. If you had a safe, what would you keep in it?
  8. If you could afford anything at this moment, what would you buy?
  9. What is one thing you love about your mother or father?
  10. What is the best adventure you’ve had with a friend?
  11. What are three characteristics you look for in a friend?
  12. What is an animal that best describes you?
  13. What is a lesson you’ve learned the hard way?
  14. What is a memory that makes you laugh?
  15. What is something that you are afraid of?
  16. What is a challenge that you are facing?
  17. What is a dream that you have for the future?
  18. If you could change anything in the world, what would it be?
  19. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
  20. If you could be anything you wanted, what would you be?
  21. If you could ask God any question, what would you ask him?
  22. If you were stranded on an island, what three people do you want with you?
  23. What are you thinking about lately?
  24. What has influenced your thinking on this topic?
  25. How do you know that is true? What if you are wrong?

 

  1. __________________ ___________________
  • “talk of them when you sit in your house” (Deut. 6:7).

What makes these times valuable?

 

Key Tools

 

  1. _______________
  • Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

 Key Tools

 

  1. _________________
  • Meaningful __________________.
  • Message of _______________ ______________.
  • Picture of a _______________ ______________.

How To Help Children Develop a Biblical Worldview Handout for Mega Con

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Colossians 2:7-8 mindset, “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”

 

Christianity                                                                                           Secular Humanism

God exists. He is the center of all things.

God does not exist. Man is the center of all things.

God created the world.

The universe came about by random chance. There is no designer.

God created humans in his image for a purpose. Humans exist to glorify God.

Humans exist for no ultimate purpose other than their own happiness.

Humanity is totally depraved and has rebelled against a perfect God.

Humanity is good.

Morality comes from God and is revealed in the Bible.

Morality is relative. There is no absolute standard of right and wrong.

Jesus is the way, truth, and life. Salvation comes by faith in Jesus.

Jesus is not God. Humanity has the power to save.

Death ushers us into eternal life or eternal death.

Death is the end of all existence.

 

Worldview is created when a persons answers four basic questions:

1.

2.

3. 

4. 

 

What is Biblical Worldview?

 

Biblical Worldview is:

 

Biblical Worldview in 4 Words:

 

  1. ________________ : God made the _____________ ___________ (Gen. 1:1).

 

  1. ________________ : Sin made the _________ _________ (Rom. 3:23; 8:20-22).

 

  1. ________________ : Jesus paid the __________ _____ __________ (John. 3:16).

 

  1. ________________ : God will make the ___________ _________ (Rev. 21:1-8).