First off, I'm not a parent, and I'm very happy with that. Part of my job description is to give teenagers Jesus and a RedBull and give them back, and I like it like that.
But there is a lot to be learned about parenting from working with teenagers, and I'm beginning to see distinct parallels between parenting and discipleship. (maybe that's why the writer of Proverbs said to train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it. Maybe you could read it as: disciple your children in the way they should go and they will not depart from it.)
Lately I've been rereading a book from college called The Master Plan of Evangelism, by Robert Coleman. The book lays out piece by piece the plan of Jesus to reach the world. You could sum it up simply by saying God's plan to evangelize the world is by making disciples. In chapter 5, specifically, the author talks about demonstration. He basically claims that one of the keys to Jesus' discipleship was that he let people watch the way he lived.
In other words the heart of discipleship lies in living your life alongside someone so that they can emulate you. If 2 +2 still makes 4 then I'd bet the people we disciple the most are our spouses and our children.
The terrifying fact of the matter is that children and teens are sponges. They absorb everything. They either become just like the adults they are regularly around or they rebel against them, and the funny thing is that more often than not when someone rebels against something, they still emulate it.
Humans will become like whatever they feel the strongest towards, and teenagers feel the strongest towards their parents, in one way or another.
Gandhi said "be the change you wish to see in the world." I would say "Be the person you wish your child (disciple) to become, because, more than likely, you are the person they will become."
Granted there are anomalies, children who push back against unhealthy parents and healthily become something different, but those children usually had another mentor to facilitate that.
The most powerful tool for changing a life and changing the world is becoming someone worth watching, and then letting someone watch. Let someone watch you succeed and watch you fail, and let them watch the grace of Christ lift you back up to keep pursuing Him.
But there is a lot to be learned about parenting from working with teenagers, and I'm beginning to see distinct parallels between parenting and discipleship. (maybe that's why the writer of Proverbs said to train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it. Maybe you could read it as: disciple your children in the way they should go and they will not depart from it.)
Lately I've been rereading a book from college called The Master Plan of Evangelism, by Robert Coleman. The book lays out piece by piece the plan of Jesus to reach the world. You could sum it up simply by saying God's plan to evangelize the world is by making disciples. In chapter 5, specifically, the author talks about demonstration. He basically claims that one of the keys to Jesus' discipleship was that he let people watch the way he lived.
In other words the heart of discipleship lies in living your life alongside someone so that they can emulate you. If 2 +2 still makes 4 then I'd bet the people we disciple the most are our spouses and our children.
The terrifying fact of the matter is that children and teens are sponges. They absorb everything. They either become just like the adults they are regularly around or they rebel against them, and the funny thing is that more often than not when someone rebels against something, they still emulate it.
Humans will become like whatever they feel the strongest towards, and teenagers feel the strongest towards their parents, in one way or another.
Gandhi said "be the change you wish to see in the world." I would say "Be the person you wish your child (disciple) to become, because, more than likely, you are the person they will become."
Granted there are anomalies, children who push back against unhealthy parents and healthily become something different, but those children usually had another mentor to facilitate that.
The most powerful tool for changing a life and changing the world is becoming someone worth watching, and then letting someone watch. Let someone watch you succeed and watch you fail, and let them watch the grace of Christ lift you back up to keep pursuing Him.
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