Cultivating Life Long Faith 5

All this week we’ve been looking at David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock’s book Faith for Exiles, and the five ministry practices churches and families must pursue to lead kids into life-long faith. The research done by Kinnaman and Matlock indicates that in order to form a lasting faith, we must curb the cultural tendency toward entitlement and self-centeredness by getting our kids engaged in counter-cultural mission. This does not mean that we need to be sure they get involved in a missions trip once or twice a year. Sure, those experiences can be valuable for our kids. But engaging in countercultural mission means living as a faithful presence wherever we are, by trusting God’s power and living differently from cultural norms. This means that we bloom for God as His ambassador wherever we are planted. We need to teach our kids to play to his glory, study to his glory, conduct themselves in relationships to his glory, and live every moment to his glory. Let’s pray that our kids grow to embrace and live the faith!