Parenting for Deep Faith

My friend, youth pastor and writer Mike McGarry, offers some great advice to youth workers and parents on how to prepare students for a lifelong faith. This is important to consider as the research consistently points to the fact that far too many kids are not only graduating from high school, but graduating or walking away from the faith as they enter young adulthood. Here are Mike’s four best practices for facilitating a lifelong faith. First, apply the Gospel to everything. Help them see that Christ not only came to save them, but to lead them into faithful God-glorifying living in every square inch of their lives. Second, teach them to love the church. Engage them not only with their peers, but with the full spectrum of believers in your local body. Third, dream big biblical dreams for your kids. Pray that they would grow and mature in their faith. And finally, give kids the opportunity to lead and even fail. A deepened faith is the fruit of real-life struggles. Don’t coddle your kids.