Spiritual Formation

In this months episode Andy will talk all about how best parents can make the most of Spiritual guiding there kids and how we as leaders can guide the parents to do so.

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Show Notes:

In Matthew 28, Jesus calls us to follow him and make disciples of all nations. We are to teach others to follow him well. This includes children and young people.

The Great Commission has no age limitations!

Spiritual formation, as stated in Romans 12:2, is the process of becoming more like Jesus in our thoughts, words, and actions. It is about being transformed by the Holy Spirit and becoming more like Christ in our character and behaviour.
As the spiritual writer and teacher Henri Nouwen once said, "Spiritual formation is the process of being formed in the image of Christ for the sake of others."
OneHope, a global Scripture engagement ministry, recently completed a worldwide study of teens called
Global Youth Culture
In the study, 43% of teens globally identified as Christian. However, far fewer could be called Committed Christians.
To be a Committed Christian, you had to have six traits: four foundational beliefs and two spiritual disciplines. It was actually pretty basic, let’s take a look:
To be a committed Christian, teens had to:
●  Believe God exists and they can have a personal relationship with him
●  Believe Jesus is the Son of God
●  Believe forgiveness of sins is possible through Jesus Christ
●  Believe the Bible is the Word of God
●  Pray at least weekly
●  Read the Bible at least weekly
The number of Committed Christians in the study was just 7%! 43% Christian - 7% committed.
In Australia it drops from 32% down to 3%
Children need to know what the Bible teaches so they can understand its more complex concepts as they grow older.
Research that OneHope did in partnership with Barna showed that the majority of parents choose their church because of the children’s program.
This research happened in the US, but the concept holds true in other places. Making children a priority and teaching them well matters a lot to families. It draws them into the faith community where they can all be discipled and encouraged.
Help them understand that they can talk to God through prayer any time. They can read the Bible and worship any time. Children don’t have as many barriers and doubts as adults do. They are ready to believe that God is real and wants to be involved in their lives. We should encourage this faith and trust.
Finally, we are going to look at a very important point–the role of family.
The survey of parents in the US. It showed that 80% of Christian parents agree they are primarily responsible for the faith development of their child. However, only 25% say they are in a good place with their faith related interactions. That’s a big drop!
As 1 Corinthians 11:1 says, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." Our children will learn more from observing our actions than from our words. We can show them daily the importance of putting our beliefs into practice.
This can include things like regular family devotions, praying together, and having open discussions about faith. There are countless opportunities to have spiritual conversations and teaching moments. As a dad of three, I can attest to this!
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 tells us that parents have a responsibility to teach their children about God and His commandments so that they may follow Him all the days of their life. Proverbs 22:6 echoes this: "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it."
Let’s help children start this journey so they can follow Jesus and look more like him every day.