Teaching Kids about the Faith Children's Articles

For those of us raising kids, the pandemic has created a number of challenges, not least how to navigate working from home, household chores, and our children’s education. While much effort has been put into educating our children either online or with masks and physical distancing, our inability to meet together at Spring Garden on Sundays has brought into stark relief the importance of teaching our kids about Jesus. You may have realized that back in the pre-pandemic days our kids were only in our church discipleship programs for an hour a week. Having taught in the grades 1-5, I recognize that the time spent “downstairs” teaching and modelling faith, while important, is only a small part toward the educating and forming that our kids need. I have been reminded that ultimately teaching our kids about our faith has always been a family responsibility. In this time, I have been made more aware that we caregivers are largely on our own, apart from our virtual church gatherings. I don’t want to make parents and guardians feel guilty and add another task or duty to our days, but I am reminding myself of my responsibility as my kids’ caregiver to introduce them to God, our God who raised his Son Jesus from the dead and sent his Spirit to us.

While it is helpful to set aside time in the morning at breakfast or at night before bed or at dinner to read from the Bible and pray together, a simple place to start teaching our kids is in sharing with them the way God told the people of Israel to share with their children. In Deuteronomy 6:6-9, after Moses reminds the people to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and strength, he says, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Teaching our kids is as simple (and as difficult!) as talking about God with them at home while we go about our day, when we are in the car, when they go to bed, and when we get up. It seems to me from Deuteronomy 6 that we should be talking with our kids about God and his commandments wherever we are with them. If “when” is “all the time,” the “what” that we tell them can be the Ten Commandments that we can memorize together and put up as a list by our front door. We can recite the Lord’s Prayer together as we leave our house. The Apostles’ Creed, which is Spring Garden’s statement of faith, can be placed on the mirror in the bathroom and recited while we brush our teeth. As “we walk along the way,” we can talk about moments when have seen God work in our own lives or our favourite Bible verses or Bible stories that are important to us. The reason why these events and Bible passages are important to us should be passed on to the next generation. Psalm 78:3-4 states, “things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.” I know I am not great at this, but if I don’t tell my kids about what God has done in my life or what I believe about Jesus, how can I expect them to know? There are many ways I can teach them and what I can teach them, but the simplest way for me (and it isn’t easy) is to share about those moments I was aware of God working in my life and teaching me. May the Lord help us to impress God’s commandments on our children’s hearts.