Christian Parenting: Reality, Challenges and Hopes

Christian parents who have their strong basis, believe that God created us for a purpose. This is clearly revealed in the Bible. ‘’Then God said, ‘Let me make man in my image, according to my likeness’’ (Genesis 1:26). We are all created in the likeness of God’s family. Our parents, grandparents and elders clearly delivered this message to us, trained us to be part of this family. Do we have a responsibility to pass the traditional believes and values to our children and bring them up in the family of God? Yes, our ultimate goal is to lay foundation for our children, so they will always desire to fully seek God, but…..

What is the Reality?

The reality should be that every Christian child must see the real God through their parents’ eyes, but is this happening in today’s Christian families? No, this is not happening, there are so many reasons, some of which are beyond the control of the parents such as the society we live in, new culture, advanced technology, the unwanted/unhealthy themes flooding the media as never before, and peer pressure in the school system.

What are the challenges affecting Christian parents today?

The most common challenges affecting Christian parents today are the pressure of work, which deprives them from spending quality time with their children. Financial difficulties, absence of grandparents, joblessness, spending too much time on social media, are also some of the other challenges affecting Christian parenting today. As a result of the above factors, many Christian parents are not available to effectively fulfil their God- given responsibilities in the upbringing of their children. The impact of this is that many Christian children today are deprived of parents’ care, love, affection, which lead them to spiritual poverty, as a result they have been unable to encounter Jesus in their lives.

How can Christian parents overcome the challenges of today’s society in upbringing their children to the Christian teachings, faith and values?

For this, first of all as Christian parents, we have to wake up to our responsibilities. If possible we should help our children to walk in the footsteps of our parents and grandparents, who lived God’s way of life. We should develop our children’s desire to follow God, not just emphasise our desire for them to follow God (Psalm 127: 3-5). For this, our personal example is of utmost importance. Children need to be taught discipline, self-mastery and self-control. Our goal as Christian parents is to teach, prepare and protect them as best as we can until they reach maturity of mind and body.   A healthy sense of detachment will also help them to restrain from enjoying pleasures of life.  Christian parents need to understand that parenting is a journey of learning, exploring, growing, loving, crying, laughing, praying, teaching, caring, and making memories of joy, faith and trust. A good quality parent-child interaction is crucial to the development of healthy, emotionally balanced, responsible and stable child. Being good parents is about being really present in the lives of their children. Our children need love, time, guidance, discipline and boundaries. They need to learn about values, virtues and the importance of a strong work ethic. They need to be taught about God and the importance of prayer, and be helped to value life and to love their faith. They will learn all these important lessons from our personal example as parents, not from the government, school, friends, or the internet. They listen to what we say, they are also watching what we do.

Parents need to prove to the children that God’s way of life is of very high value and that it works for them. If we have not clearly communicated to our children that God’s ways work for us, how will we ever convince them that God’s guidelines are worthwhile, and that the values we teach are good for them? One of the most fundamental elements in a good Christian parenting in today’s technologically elite society, is that we must actively be demonstrating to our children that God’s way works for us. By the example of our own lives, we must be able to show our children that God’s principles will bring joy to their lives. As you all know that many studies have shown that parents exercise the greatest influence in the education and upbringing of children. Most of these values are not the sort of things we can teach in a classroom style. They are values that our children learn from observing our lives as parents. They must be taught the values that it is not everything that they want is good for them.

Hope:

It’s not too late for us to achieve our goal, as we all know that expectations lead to success. We as Christian parents definitely with some effort can direct our children’s hearts to our true Father, the Supreme God. We should be moulding our children as best as we can, especially laying the foundation in their early years. If our ultimate goal as Christian parents is to bring up our children “in God’s image,” it will become our guiding light and central theme for everything we do in our family. Our real desire then becomes the creation of a culture of God within our home. Parents who are engaged and active in a church community are more likely to have children who find ways to participate in the Christian community. Parents and churches have a responsibility to help children know they have gifts, talents and that they are not only welcome in the community, they are vital to it. As Christian parents let us rededicate our lives to turning the hearts of the children to their spiritual Father. This is the ultimate goal and purpose of parenting: to have children in God’s image.