What’s A Primary Faith Trainer?

Posted on August 31, 2016

A former survey of parents by The Barna Group found that “close to nine out of ten parents of children under age 13 believe they have the primary responsibility for teaching their children about religious beliefs and spiritual matters.”

This is great news!!! Scripture clearly commands us as parents to teach our children the truth of God’s Word (Deuteronomy 6).  I was happy to hear so many families agreed!

However…..(there’s always a however).

However according to the same survey, “a majority of parents do not spend any time during a typical week discussing religious matters with their children.”

Instead……

Instead, the parents surveyed typically “rely on their church to do all of the religious training for their children.” Unfortunately this runs contrary to God’s plan for the discipleship of our families.  To quote a friend and fellow Pastor, Brian Haynes, “the family is plan A and the church is plan B when it comes to the spiritual formation of the next generation.”

So what can we do about it?

The first thing to determine is the “why?” Why do parents who believe they should assume the responsibilities as the primary faith trainer in their home fail to do so?

The report provided the answer: “a majority of parents are willing to provide spiritual leadership for their children, but feel ill-equipped to lead them in this way.”

Like most things in life, specifically in parenting and marriage, we over complicate what was meant to be natural. We add pressure to live up to a standard presented on a blog or a Pinterest page.  We grab our Bible, our spouse, our kids, and our best intentions and off we go!

And then life happens…..

So in our own strength we try harder….

And we fail (according to the unrealistic standards)….

Then we become overwhelmed or feel defeated and we give up…..

Then unfortunately we don’t do anything.

Thankfully, many years ago before I arrived at my current church, the staff provided a clear blueprint on what the role of a Primary Faith Trainer looks like.  We continue to teach these habits in our parenting classes.

Simply put – a Parent as a Primary Faith Trainer does three things:

1. Lead Faith Talks
2. Capture God Moments
3. Celebrate Milestones

In the next few weeks we will walk through each of these in more detail but for now I want to leave you with a question, “Are You Willing to Be the Primary Faith Trainer in Your Home?”