Parenting | Guiding Your Child Toward God - Rated PG: Parental Guidance Needed - Part 4

Send us Fan MailGUIDING YOUR CHILD TOWARD GODRATED PG: Parental Guidance Needed - Part 4Springcreek Church | Senior Pastor Keith StewartMarch 12, 2023This message has something for everyone. It's about the importance of spirituality in kids & what parents can do to encourage it. But it’s also about the reasons kids walk away from church & the best way to respond to faith exiting.DISCUSSION QUESTIONS1. In the introduction, Pastor Keith talked about the growing academic and psychology studies around childhood spirituality & its importance. He mentioned how there is an objective and calculable benefit for children who’ve been encouraged spiritually that includes, being less likely to abuse substances, less prone to depression, less prone to risky teenage behaviors, better academic performance, & fewer thoughts and attempts at suicide. What other benefits have you seen in yourself, your kids, or others that have had a solid spiritual upbringing? 2. What are some of the ways you or your parents have tried to instill spiritual values in your kids or you?  Was spirituality important in your family? What lasting lessons did you carry into adulthood? If not, when did you discover the importance of spirituality? What would you say to a parent who thought teaching or modeling spirituality to their children was unimportant?3. Based on the sacred Shema in Deuteronomy 6, Pastor Keith described 5 areas of emphasis. Healthy, spiritual families...-  Discipline their children-  Are built on a spiritual foundation-  Model the values they teach-  Have good communication skills-  Keep their promisesOf the above qualities, in which area are you strongest and why? In which area are you weakest and why? 4. In terms of why Christian kids walk away from their faith, citing the work of Tom Bisset, Pastor Keith listed several reasons for departure from church and the faith;-  They have troubling, unanswered questions about their faith-  Their faith isn’t working for them-  Other things in life become more important than their faith -  They never personally owned their faith-  The X Factor in departure Of these factors listed, which have you personally observed in kids who once were a part of the church? How did they express it? What did you do or say in response to it?5. How can you as a parent & we as a church be more effective in reaching those who have walked away from the church or faith? What is effective and what is totally ineffective? What would you say to a parent with a prodigal child who is worried about the trajectory of their life? https://www.springcreekchurch.org/#realspringcreekchurch #parenting #ratedpg #whatkidsneedmost #choices #consequences #anger #patience #reaction #deescalation