I’m glad you’re reading this. Parents have a unique responsibility, and one that is entrusted ultimately to no one else: to raise their children in the instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). For numerous reasons ranging from time struggles to personal fear, many parents simply do not provide spiritual instruction and discussion for their children. Here’s an effort at eliminating one potential excuse: “I don’t know what to do!” Enjoy.
Selecting the Resource:
- The Bible! For help approaching the Bible, I highly recommend One-to-One Bible Reading (David Helm), a book that provides the best help for reading, studying, and discussing the Bible together with other people that I have ever seen.
- Desiring God (John Piper)—Every Desiring God conference is available in video and written format under Resources à Seminars. In addition, almost every book John Piper has ever written is available in PDF form under Resources à Books. Further, many of these free books and seminars have free PDF study guides under Resources à Study Guides with truly fantastic homework and group discussion questions.
- Matthias Media (Various Authors)—Matthias Media is one of the only media companies in the world that I recommend wholeheartedly and without reservation. I have read many of their books and studies and have been beyond impressed with them.
- 9Marks (Various Authors)—9Marks provides the finest resources I know on the church, ranging from the Gospel that established it to the function of preaching and teaching to conflict resolution to the reason for and nature of church membership.
- Systematic Theology (Wayne Grudem)—From my perspective, this is the best systematic theology ever written… and each chapter includes a series of discussion questions!
Getting the Resource:
There are (at least) a few approaches to getting the resource(s) you plan to use:
- Buy 1 copy of the book and find a way for you and your children to read it over the course of the day.
- Buy a copy of the book for you and your child(ren), thereby building not only your personal library, but also your child’s library.
- Download the PDF of a book (search your book title on Google along with the abbreviation “PDFâ€). As previously mentioned, Desiring God has made virtually every book available in PDF format, which is quite cost-effective!
Using the Resource:
- Set a particular time for this. Though the thought of getting up early is less than exciting for some, it is nonetheless true for most of us that if it doesn’t get done in the morning, it doesn’t get done. This is simply a matter of priority.
- Try the “Swedish Method,†which David Helm explains in his book, One-to-One Bible Reading, Of course, if the Bible is not the book you’re reading, then you’ll want to add one very important question, which I’ve written below in italics:
- What struck me about the reading?
- What questions do I have about the reading?
- Is the author’s teaching consistent with those found in the Bible?
- How should the reading affect my life?
Recommendations?
What else should be included in these sections? I’d love your thoughts.