Growing Faith at Home

As people of faith, we want to encourage the members of our church family to continually grow in their faith. Our primary goal as followers of Christ is that all should know who their heavenly Father is and that He wishes to have an intimate and purpose-filled relationship with each and every one of His precious children. The Four keys of Caring… Read more

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie… Read more

Studies continue to confirm that parents are the key people who influence whether or not our children will have faith. This means that one of the best places for young people to ‘catch’ faith is in the home. Grandparents can also play a vital role in a child’s faith formation. Recent research highlights the enormous impact of grandparents on this particular generation of young people.
Grandparents have a great opportunity to share their faith with their grandchildren. Here are five roles that grandparents can play in enhancing their grandchildren’s faith formation.

You’ve heard the saying, “Families that pray together, stay together.” And I agree, but I think there’s a similar common bond to those individuals who serve together. We form a family-like bond that keeps us together through the ups and downs of life.

In many LCA districts around the nation mid-year Christian Life Weeks have begun or are about to , involving many campers, leaders and volunteers. As we’ve travelled around Australia to different congregations and certainly in our own experiences mentoring the young people in our congregations, often there is a “what happens after camp?” question.

Participating in a creative response is taking the time, after having heard the word of God, to use your unique gifts and talents to process what you have heard. It is a time to reflect and co-create with the help of the Holy Spirit. It is a wonderful opportunity to make meaning of what was shared.

How quickly does your week fill up? The term starts and once again it’s full swing back into school activities, after school activities, church activities and sport. We spend many hours in the car going from place to place, participating in wholesome, important and growing opportunities, but I wonder how often you get time to pause?

Something special, something unique, takes place between parent/caregivers and their children. Something precious and valuable. Something desirable. At the very heart of family, we yearn to be with each other, despite all our failings and differences, spending quality time together to create shared experiences can help to foster relationships and connect each other.

Encouraging our children in their faith  What kind of adults do we want our children to become? How do we help shape our children’s values and beliefs? How do we help them be a positive influence in their community? Research shows that parents continue to be the greatest influence on their children’s faith. As parents… Read more

Parents continue to be the greatest influence on their children’s faith. The time a child will spend at church is a small fraction compared to the time the child will spend with his or her parents. Congregations have a great opportunity to partner with parents and empower them to pass the faith on to their children. What… Read more