Click here to find a list of resources recommended by SojournKids to help you disciple your kids.
While there you can download A Catechism for Boys and Girls and the SojournKids Family Worship Guide.
July 2009 Archives
Here are links to audio and documents from various parenting seminars hosted at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD:
Parenting Ages Infant to 5 (by Brian Chesemore)
Overall Outline (PDF)Parenting Ages 11 to 14 (by Greg Somerville)Additional Resources:
- "Sowing Plan" (PDF)
- Plan to Overcome Complaining (PDF)
Overall Outline (PDF)Parenting Ages 15 to 18 (by Kenneth Maresco)
Overall Outline (PDF)Parenting Ages 19 to 22 (by Bob Kauflin)
Overall Outline (PDF)
(Thanks to Between Two Worlds)
How can invite cards, tennis balls, extra sunscreen, a camera, and courage help you connect with your neighbors this summer? Read Steve McCoy's article to find out.
DiscipleLikeJesus.com
Did you know that over 2 million teens, youth, and young adults from Christian families are leaving the church each year, never to return? Learn why this problem exists, and what parents, grandparents and pastors can do about it.
The goal of this ministry is to help sincere, committed Christian parents make disciples of their children by using the examples and practices of Jesus Christ and to develop fruit in their children's lives that will glorify the Lord. Although no parent can measure up to the perfection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, every parent can make better choices to train His children according to Jesus' pattern with His disciples.
Rich and Lori Tanguay are not only members of Grace Chapel, they are also internationally licensed ministers with the Foursquare Church. Rich has his B.A. from St. Bonaventure University with a major in Philosophy, a masters in Rehabilitation Counseling from the U of A and a Ph.D. from California Graduate School of Theology in Glendale, Ca. Rich and Lori are co-founders of Open Road Ministries. Lori has an LPN in nursing while Rich is active as a Christian counselor in the Valley. He has been a Catholic priest, a Marxist sympathiser while a missionary to Chile, an agnostic, has worked as a psychotherapist, and as a prison chaplain in Connecticut and Arizona. Learn more about Rich and the story of how Jesus healed him 34 years ago at his website - acompletedcatholic.com.
Rich is also a blogger. Check out his blog and "book in progress" - Tips for Coffee Cup Counselors - at blog.acompletedcatholic.com.
updated 7/20/09
Download and read Mark Driscoll's book, Pastor Dad: Scriptural Insights on Fatherhood. It's free and it will be good for you and your family.
Samples from the book:
We learn how to be fathers to our own children as we seek to treat our kids the way our perfect Dad has treated us, his sons. Our ultimate goal must be that our children would grow to love and worship our God. This simple refrain is repeated on a multitude of occasions throughout Scripture, where it says that a particular generation worshiped the God of their fathers, because God intends for children to worship the same God as their dads (chapter 1).
But Paul is also aware that some fathers have a tendency to be harsh, mean, overbearing, or intimidating with their children. This sort of frightening and provoking fathering exasperates, frustrates, and angers children. The biblical goal of a father is not to crush his children but to cultivate them. A father's goal is not to punish his children, but instead to correct them. On the other hand, some fathers are so fearful of frustrating their children that they fail to discipline them at all, which is a cowardly overreaction to child abuse and is abusive in its own right. Instead of abusing children or abandoning them by failing to correct them, a godly father brings his children up with wise training and instruction in the Lord. The ancient Greeks who heard Paul's words would have understood his language as referring to the total shaping of a person that includes their education, spirituality, work ethic, vocation, social skills, and so on (chapter 3).
Friends who love God and live righteously are wonderful influences upon a child. Your children will benefit from playing with their children and seeing their marriages. A wise father will not tuck his children away to be hidden and uninvolved in the life of his church and friends, but rather integrate them into the church community, developing friendships with people of all ages, thereby reinforcing his instruction as they see the benefits of wisdom in the lives of many people (chapter 4).
A wise dad may realize that a personal quiet time for himself is unwise; rather than hiding away in a quiet place to read the Bible, it is often best to do so in the noisy living room where the kids can see and climb on their dad while he reads his Bible. Also, if dad frequently has his Bible open, his children will be more likely to ask him questions about God and life because they see that he possesses answers from God's Word (chapter 5).
Our only hope is men meeting Jesus and obeying his Word. We want the men to be different kinds of men, we want them to have different kinds of marriages, and we want them to have different kinds of children because they are sons of the King of Kings and that means something. And by different we mean holy (chapter 7).
