10 Ways to Encourage Your Child's Faith
Parents play a vital role in helping shape the faith of their children. There’s never a better time to start encouraging your children to grow in their knowledge and relationship with God than now. Check out these 10 ways to encourage your children in their faith journeys today.
- Pray for and with your kids, and when possible give them a chance to pray too.
- Read them an age-appropriate Bible. Check out the Bible App and the Bible App for Kids by YouVersion for engaging, interactive learning experiences.
- Listen to faith-based music the whole family can enjoy. Try Seeds Family Worship or MercyMe for starters.
- Memorize Bible verses. Write a weekly verse on the bathroom mirror with a dry erase marker for easy access or set it as a screen saver on cell phones for a quick reminder.
- Go outside and point out God’s creation all around, from the tiniest, intricate bug to beautiful, painted sunsets.
- Don’t shy away from hard questions. As kids grow up, their questions do too. Try viewing doubts and questions as opportunities to foster kids’ personal relationships with God, and a chance to search the Bible for themselves.
- Connect with a faith community. Kids love to have a sense of belonging (don’t we all?), so finding a church home with a children’s or youth group that fits the needs of your family is a great starting place.
- Choose a family life verse. Pick a verse or section of the Bible that represents the heart and desires of your family. Hang it up somewhere in your home and talk about it regularly. Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” is a popular life verse choice.
- Serve others. Volunteer at a food pantry, rake a neighbor’s yard or raise money for a charity or mission trip. Opportunities abound for families to serve others in our cities and beyond.
- Model generosity. Showing our kids how to be generous with their time, talents and money, from an early age, helps them understand God’s heart for generosity. Set aside a “giving jar” for a portion of their allowance and give it to your local church or ministry. Encourage them to use their gifts to bless others, and they’ll experience the joy of Jesus’ words from Acts 20:35: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Faith & Family writer Jena Meyerpeter is praying her way through parenthood one day at a time.