Faithful Parenting in the Pandemic: Will children’s faith survive?

Raising faithful children has always included taking children to church. In fact, the temptation was to rely too much on the activities that the provided as part of their children’s ministry programming. Everything has changed.

There are new challenges to faithfully parenting children in the wake of the pandemic. These challenges can hardly be underestimated. And, it leads me to wonder, will our children’s faith survive the pandemic?

For many people, raising faithful children begins with faithful attendance at church. But, back in March, parents drove away from the church building not knowing that it was one of the last time children would participate in a “normal” Bible class. In hopes of staying connected to families, children’s ministers quickly engaged in a herculean effort to create media content. Not only were they recording content, but they were also learning to edit it and post it, as well. Ministers sought to connect with children and families via Zoom and to visit families in face-to-face, but socially distanced, sidewalk conversations.

All of these programs and creative ideas were fine at first, a creative band-aid on an opening wound. But COVID has kept ongoing and there is no end in sight. The virus is a chronic injury to our society. And band-aids never work for chronic injuries. Chronic problems need deeper intervention, more time, intensive care.

Church and Home = Partners

If you ask a children’s minister or youth minister who is responsible for nurturing children’s faith, without a doubt, they will answer in one word.

Parents.

Parents and primary caregivers of children are responsible for nurturing the children’s faith. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 provides an organizing principle for these ministers that hope to remind families, as well as the church, that faith begins at home.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Ministers take those words to heart, committed to partner with parents, and dreamed up ideas for take-home sheets, devotional guides, movie night baskets, parenting books, and just about every other tool that you can imagine. They prepared these tools religiously, put them in the hands of families, and then wondered, “Did anybody use all those things that I gave out?

Sadly, most of the tools probably went unused.

And, that is not to heap guilt on any parent or caregiver. It is a reality. In fact, true confession here, as a Mom, more often than not I couldn’t tell you where I put my packet of parenting materials to save my life. It is easy to get busy and let good tools go to waste.

The parenting challenge: nurturing faith only (or mostly) at home

No one knows how long social distancing during this pandemic will last. The virus barely impacts some locations, and much of life continues as usual. But, in other places, stay at home orders will come and go, and socially distancing is a must. While some churches meet face to face weekly, others haven’t met in months.

Typical ministry, regular school, and normal life won’t return in its fullness until we know that we can keep each other as safe as possible from transmitting the virus.

Now, more than ever, parents need to take up the charge to be the primary spiritual influencers of their children’s faith.

Parents, prioritizing your children’s spiritual formation has been your job all along. Now, though, the drop children off at church back-up-plan is not an option right now. So, what are your options? Well, it’s not as overwhelming as you might think. And, the ministers in your lives are still there to help, their help will just look different for this season. Consider these ideas for nurturing faith at home.

Ten faith activities to do with children

1. Live out your faith fully and completely every day. Be a good example for your children.
2. Read Scripture to your children inviting them into the Bible story. I love using the phrase “I wonder” to help children interact with the story.
3. Pick up some resources such as children’s Bibles and family devotional books.
4. Watch videos that inspire family discussion.
5. Take part in church special events such as at home VBS and day camps.
6. Arrange with other adults time for your children to call them and ask them about their faith, their favorite Bible story, or just to have a conversation about their life.
7. Help children participate in Zoom calls with their Bible classes or minister.
8. Participate in socially distance playdates. While you should do your own homework in case information changes, outdoors and somewhat distanced seems to be considered safe by many experts. Include a short Bible story as a devotional during the playdate.
9. Choose a service project that can be completed in the neighborhood.
10. ________________________ (fill in the blank because most parents are much more creative than I am.)

Faith that Survives and Thrives in the Pandemic

Parenting children and aiming for faith that not only survives the pandemic but thrives during this time should not be a goal that is not realized. All parents can do this without feeling overwhelmed or unequipped. Choose just one or two of the suggestions above. Do what you know you can do and nothing more.

So, what does a thriving faith look like in children? In many ways, it looks the same as thriving faith in adults. The seeds of faith that are planted in childhood will continue to mature throughout adulthood. Thriving faith might be characterized by the following:

1. Children pray to God regularly, on their own and with their parents.
2. Children recognize that God loves them.
3. Children know about Jesus’ life and want to follow Jesus.
4. Children are listening to the Spirit and understand the Spirit’s role in their life.
5. Children seek to worship God, individually and communally.
6. Children want to meet with the church – even when they can’t we can fuel their desire to be with other Christians.
7. Children are excited about Scripture, they want to learn God’s story, and they know their place in God’s story.
8. Children choose behaviors based on their relationship with God.
9. Children want to serve God by serving others.
10. Children tell other people about their relationship with God.

Conclusion

I pray that each parent and caregiver that reads this article will feel encouraged, equipped, and called to nurture their children’s faith. God planned for parents to have this job. Embrace it with joy.

Resources

(Full disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate. If you click on a link below and then purchase from Amazon, I will receive a tiny amount of compensation, at no additional cost to you.)

Parents, are you looking for a few resources that may help you disciple your children at home? Below are a few of my favorites. Click on the pictures below to learn more about each resource. The Good Dirt book is a series of four books for at-home family devotionals. The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook is geared for adults and can encourage the discipleship of parents. Many of the disciplines described in the handbook can be adjusted for children. 

I keep each of these books in my library and use them often. The links below will take you directly to their listing on Amazon. One final hint: check Kindle, some of these books are offered on Kindle Unlimited.