Christian Instruction in the Home

I cannot emphasis enough the power of Christian instruction in the home. Many Christians do not know where to begin with this, especially if they are first generation, so I am offering this post for them. The purpose of Christian instruction and education is so that our children will learn about God correctly from us, hide the Word in their hearts, become saved as a result (not always but many will), be eventually able to defend the Word and contend for it, make disciples and eventually help to reform culture as a result of what they know.

What does Christian instruction in the home look like?

1. One thing that must be central in the home is the teaching of God's Word. As we teach God's Word to our children, they will learn wisdom, attain true knowledge, and build godly character. There are many ways to do this as there are homes. In our home, we like to teach a Bible verse at breakfast and discuss scripture. At lunch we go over the memory verse making a game out of who can do it quickest and accurately then we discuss current events or biblical worldviews. This is how I prefer to do it, since I am sitting with them already, why not make the most of that time? Plan into their day a time for them to have personal devotions and prayer and realize that you will be instilling life time habits. Buy them Bibles that are suited for their age, buy movies that help to teach and buy audio resources that do the same, their are also CD-roms that can help teach this too. Use these resources so your child will be filled with the knowledge of God.

2. We must be aware of what is considered time-wasters as we bring our children closer in the knowledge to the Lord. Are video games, television shows, internet and iPods stealing away their time? As parents, we need to offer excellent alternatives to the goals we are desiring to accomplish with our children. This will not happen if we do not prayerfully plan out their days. This should be one of our highest goals as parents. So many times, adults will spend the time to mentor someone at church but not take the time to mentor their own children. This should not be! We want our children to be able to understand the Bible, defend it, contend for it and reform culture with what they know. This takes purposeful planning. Plan their days out and don't let hours just go to waste--seek to fill those precious hours with a Biblical education--teaching them sound doctrine and educating them for His glory.


3. As you teach Gods Word you will find your home becoming more peaceful as so are the children you are diligently seeking to train. When we sow seeds of righteousness, keep in mind that the Word of God does not come back void instead it produces a harvest of righteousness. Train your children to obey you or they will not be able to obey God. It is neither a waste of time or in vain. Teach godly character especially since it is sorely needed and absent in the world today. I recommend finding or creating a character course for your children so they will focus on learning godly character. These are two books that I like to use in our home--Christian Character and Christian Manhood-- and here is another great character building resource that I also use.

4. Another thing we do is family devotionals. We gather around with our Bibles on the couches and dad leads us in song, Bible study and questions. This is important to us because we are reminded that we don't have to be at 'church' to worship God--instead that a family altar exists right in the realm of our own home which makes our time with God even more sacred as it reminds us that He exists everywhere and can be worshiped throughout the week. We do this as time allows---allowing it to happen naturally, but not daily. We have fun with it, sometimes acting out scenes, etc., or doing the songs to handsigns. This also teaches them what is important to Dad.

5. A word about teaching your children a biblical worldview--did you know that we are losing our children to the world before they ever step out to go to college? Why is this? Is there glaring hypocrisy in our own lives? Was there too much worldly influence allowed in the home that caused them to go astray? Was there a lack of biblical teaching in the home leaving it up to the church folk and Sunday school classes? It is fully the parents responsibility to teach their children what the Word teaches about everything under the sun! This is a sacred responsibility--do not hand it over to another! If they have a stronger foundation in the 'why' behind their belief in God they will be able to stand firm---if not, they will be plucked right out of the ground as soon as anyone questions or confronts their faith. I believe every Christian home should teach biblical apologetics for this very reason. Over and over again we find examples in Scripture were the Word of God was not taught to the next generation and they quickly forgot and followed wicked ways. God was angry and brought curses and destruction upon them. Teaching God's Word must be seen as imperative and not merely an option. Let us not be a people who drops the torch as we pass it down to the next generation.


6. Teach servanthood. One one of the main mistakes we do as parents is teaching our children that the world revolves around them suggesting they are the center of the universe. We have lost what it means to be a servant--the very thing Christ has called us to be to this world. How do we teach servanthood? We teach by doing---this means volunteering at the food pantry, making bread to take over to an elderly neighbor or expecting mother, raking someones yard or shoveling their driveway. There are teens that have raised huge amounts of money for different causes, made movies or actively helping to change culture through their writings. We have known families who have gone to nursing homes to share the word of God and sing there to serve them. Don't forget the pricelessness of learning to serve in the home--caring for little ones or elderly ones, serving mom and dad through acts of love or cooking. The ideas are as limitless--teaching our children to be servants is vitally important since it prepares them for a lifetime of servanthood to Christ.

7. Our family homeschools and has for 12 years. We have chosen this method for several reasons--one of they key reasons was that we would be able to teach and share our faith with our children without contradicting, oppositional teaching from a public school education. This is just as important to a Christian education as the other points. But since this post is already way too long I will save more on this for a later post.

This is where we need to begin, Christian Mothers.

There is much work to be done.

Our high calling is to raise up disciples for the Lord.

Now let's roll up our sleeves, and get to work!




(The Christian Mother Series, Part 7)