Building Faith in the Home

This past weekend was the BASS convention, which had some wonderful workshops to help us improve as leaders, teachers and followers of Christ.  I chose one workshop called "Building Faith in the Home" by Rachel Key because I want to build faith in my own home.  Studies show that around 60% of teens who go to church will walk away from their faith in college.  I don't want that to happen in my home or in the homes of Hillcrest families.  So, in a nut shell, here is what I learned:

Barna polled youth in church youth groups (Not all youth, just the youth in church) and they found these results:

-48% said they viewed their mom as religious

-Yet only 28% of those youth had ever had their moms initiate a conversation about faith with them.

-23% said they viewed their dads as religious

-Yet only 13% of those had ever had their dads initiate a conversation about faith with them.

This poll is a stark reminder that the primary instrument of faith instruction in the home is NOT the church, but the parents.  

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 6:7-9

Now list some responsibilities God gives to the family in regards to teaching faith.

How have you been doing with passing faith on to your children?  Your grandchildren?  Your nieces and nephews?

Barna also found that families who had an active faith which lasted shared four qualities in common.  He called them the SLOW families:

S - Serve

The family must serve together.  They find ways to minister together.  They sacrifice personal time to serve in the community.  They might go on mission trips together.  They might serve at a food pantry.  They might be involved in the same ministry at church.  This was the most important variable because it gave children the opportunity to see mom and dad living out their faith.

L - Love

They have a love for each other.  They worked at speaking to each other with words of encouragement and affirmation.  Love was expressed in discipline and expectations.  Love was shown in forgiveness and seeking forgiveness.  The spouses enjoyed being with each other, playing with each other and put a priority on their relationship.  This deeply affected the security of the children in the home.

O - Obey

Children were expected to obey their parents.  Parents were expected to obey the laws, their boss, etc.  Most of all, their was an obedience to Christ.  These families sacrificed sports which were played on Sunday so they could obey God to honor the Sabbath.  They honestly evaluated the movies, computer sites, and other entertainment in light of their faith.

W - Worship

They worshiped together.  Too often our churches segregate children and youth into their own worship service rather than allowing families to worship together.  Churches which made an effort to have families worship together aided in this process.  But this worship was more than just a Sunday morning thing.  Families had prayer time before bed and talked about their faith as a normal part of daily conversations.

I share these things with you so that your family will be a SLOW family.  It is never too late to begin instilling genuine faith in our homes.  You don't have to do everything today, but begin to examine these four areas and discuss with your family how you can implement them in your home.  Your children's faith and your faith is worth taking a Sip from the Well.