Building Authentic Faith in the Next Generation

By Paul Hargreaves | Sr. Director of Family Ministries | Chapel Hill Church

A couple of weeks ago in a sermon, Pastor Mark challenged us to consider what it would take for our congregation to ensure that the next generation of children and teenagers becomes authentic followers of Jesus by the time they graduate from high school. We can all agree that Chapel Hill shares the responsibility for raising the next generation of Jesus followers, but none has a more significant role than parents in the lives of their children and teenagers.

We are all born into a community called family, which consists of two essential elements: marriage and parenthood. These two aspects of family reveal God’s character more profoundly than anything else in creation. The love between a husband and wife offers a glimpse of Christ’s passionate devotion to us as His bride.

In the same way, the ups and downs of parenthood offer a compelling picture of God’s tenderness and patience toward us as His children. There is such power in the community of family that reflects God’s character. A family can always provide a safe place where children can experience God’s love and learn how to love others. Whether single or married, parents seek ways to discover the power of community that experiences the love of God together.

As we just celebrated Christmas, even Jesus himself was born within the context of a family. “God in the flesh” acquiesced to an earthly mom and dad to model what it means to honor parents and to benefit from their loving direction. It was within the nurturing care of His earthly family that “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). Our children need to grow in these same ways and know that God has a special purpose for placing them within a family.

A child or teenager’s home must become the center of biblical teaching. Biblically, the home has always been regarded as the center of faith development; however, there have been periods throughout history when parents have outsourced faith development to Sunday School, youth groups, and the Church in general. If we compare the number of hours a Kid’s Worship, Middle School, or High School Ministry leader has with kids or teenagers to the number of hours a parent has, it is clear. The average Church leader has an average of 40 hours per year with them, whereas the average parent has 3000 hours per year with these precious kids and teenagers. Intentional time spent in the lives of children is crucial for their faith development. They need to see authentic faith often to learn to follow Jesus themselves. Seeing the role of parents as the primary builders of faith can be intimidating for many parents. If they don’t feel confident in their faith, then how will they teach their children? The truth here is that your own relationship with God, as seen by your children, is a good indicator of what your child’s relationship with God can become. Keeping your child’s relationship with you built and rooted in God’s Word is the best way to foster their faith development. Learn together, read the Bible together, and discuss questions of faith together. You don’t have to have all the answers; you have to be ready to discover the answers together. There are three ways that I believe are essential to building your child’s faith together at home:

1. Talk about God in various rhythms of each day

2. Pray together

3. Read God’s Word

Chapel Hill has an app to help you explore ways to build faith at home in the various phases of a child’s life from birth to High School: https://theparentcue.org/app. I encourage you to download it and join 121 other families, representing 247 kids and teenagers from Chapel Hill, who are using this app. Live into the role God has given you to help build faith in the children and teenagers he has put in your life.

We have a team here at Chapel Hill that is going to begin looking for ways to inspire, equip, and support parents and grandparents in raising the next generation. This team is called the Family Ministries Team. This team will explore ways to foster faith growth in the next generation through both biological and church family connections, working together. We want to see the love of the family and the light of the church blend into a common goal of raising kids and teenagers to follow Jesus. Be on the lookout for opportunities that this team will provide for parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and others who work with kids and teenagers in building authentic faith in the next generation. We are excited about what's to come.