Soul Care for Children

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Soul Care for Children Fuel for the Family 2016

Ephesians 4:1-3 (NIV) As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

1. Soul Care for Our Children is Our Primary Calling as Parents

Christian Spiritual Formation Christian spiritual formation transforms every part of the person—thoughts, emotions, will, body, and relationships—into the image of Christ.

Soul Care Soul care is a commitment to shepherd the spirit of another person through the process of Christian spiritual formation.

Soul Care For Children Soul care for children, then, is a commitment to shepherd the souls of children through the process of Christian spiritual formation, whereby they walk with Jesus in all of life and are steadily transformed into his way of living.

Caring for the souls of our children is our primary calling as parents. Fulfilling this call often involves a fundamental and counter-cultural reorientation of our hearts.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 (NIV) 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.

Some Misconceptions Spiritual formation begins at adolescence. Wrong, spiritual formation begins very early in life, some think even while in the womb.

Some Misconceptions Soul care practitioners have to be super-parents. Wrong, God has called each one of us, ordinary people, to the extraordinary task of caring for the immortal souls of our children.

Some Misconceptions There is a one-size-fits-all prescription for soul care. Wrong, each child is created uniquely. God has placed the parent in an ideal situation to discern the needs of his or her children.

Some Misconceptions Soul care for children is best left to the professionals. Wrong, God designed things such that parents would be the primary soul care practitioners for their children.

2. The Spiritual Presence We Bring to the Home Matters More Than Technique

The most important thing we bring to our home is not a technique, skill, book, or new set of data. It’s the transformed and transforming presence that we offer to our ones loved around us.

The strengths and weaknesses of the leader of any community come to permeate the rest of its members.

People learn best when they have an exemplar to emulate.

Unrest tends to spread like a disease, and the person with spiritual presence can step out of the way of the emotional dominos, bringing peace and joy.

3. Parents Should Live into Each Moment, Rather Than Fretting Over Outcomes

4. Consistent Spiritual Rhythms Bring Our Children into an Encounter with God

Spiritual Disciplines   Bible Study (Heb. 4:12-13)   Inductive methods, devotional readings, apprentice method

  Prayer (1 Thess. 5:17)   ACTS prayer, breath prayers, fixed hour prayers, conversational

  Solitude (Mark 1:35)   Silence, self-examination, meditation, prayer

  Self-Denial (Matt. 6:16-18)   Repentance, prayer, reminder of dependence on God, fasting

5. Family Worship is an Excellent Way to Begin this Spiritual Journey

“We have had great disputes about how the church ought to be regulated, and indeed the subject of these disputes was of great importance. But the due regulation of your families is of no less, and, in some ways, of much greater importance. Every Christian family ought to be, as it were, a little church, consecrated to Christ, and wholly influenced and governed by his rules. And family education and order are some of the chief means of grace. If these fail, all other means are likely to prove ineffectual. And if these are maintained, all the means of grace will be likely to prosper and be successful.” (Jonathan Edwards, “Farewell Sermon,” 1751)

Launching Family Worship Set reasonable goals, i.e., that will not be burdensome and that you can attain. Start with a simple structure for your family worship Build on your experience over time