SARAH AND MARK TOOK THEIR children to church, studied the Sabbath School lessons, and had family worship together as often as they could. Yet they felt that something was missing from the spiritual experience of their family. They went back to the Bible and reread Deuteronomy 6. After praying through these verses, they decided to do exactly what the passage said. They would infuse their lives with faith and make God’s love real and known through their everyday life, including when waking, walking, eating, and going to sleep.
MAKE A FAITH PLAN
First, they made a faith plan for their family. They wrote down everything they wanted their children to learn about God. “We decided that God’s loving, generous, and graceful character needed to be at the heart of our family and infuse everything we do. The more we explored God’s loving character together, the more excited we were about sharing God with our children in wonderful and creative ways,” explains Sarah.
Mark adds, “We realized that we loved each other because He first loved us. So we let God’s love soak into our own lives and hearts and then flow through us to our children so they would fall in love with Him too.”
Sarah and Mark decided to study a different aspect of God’s loving character every month of the year for family worship. They took a big whiteboard, divided it into 12 sections, and wrote a different characteristic in each square. Then they added other ideas and Bible verses to the board. They purchased a file with 12 sections where they could drop additional ideas, worksheets, and craft supplies to help them plan creative worships together.
“We made this our shared couple project,” says Sarah. “We sat down for an hour a week to plan fun and interactive worships for the children. We also wrote a list of good questions we could discuss together as a family on busy days, at bedtimes, in the car, or during dinner.” (See the sidebar for examples.)
IDENTIFY CORE VALUES
Sarah and Mark decided what they wanted their children to learn about faith, prayer, and the Christian life. They chose their core values as a family and the character strengths they hoped to nurture in their children. They wanted their children to experience delightful Sabbaths and be joyfully and creatively involved in their local church as well as a caring outreach project.
They used these core values when writing their plan for infusing their family with faith. What would they do to make Sabbaths delightful? What traditions would they start, and what resources might they need? How could they make church a joy for their children? How would they notice and nurture their children’s character strengths? How would they creatively help their children develop good values? What kind of caring projects would work best for their children and family with their unique skills, resources, and passions?
PRAY TOGETHER
“We want our children to pray simply and freely to God, as if they’re chatting to their daddy, as Jesus did,” explains Sarah. “We stop wherever we are and just tell God how His beautiful
sky fills us with wonder, or tell Him about a disappointment, or ask for help with a math problem. We want them to learn that God cares all about their lives and loves their curious questions about the world.”
“We even pray prayers that might not be answered, as we hope to help them understand that our prayers may receive unexpected answers,” says Mark. “It doesn’t mean that God isn’t hearing, or that God doesn’t care, or that we need to pray harder. God is just working things out in ways we cannot understand and see right now—but He will make everything beautiful eventually. We don’t want them to think that God is like a Father Christmas, who will answer all our prayers if we’re good.”
STAY SPONTANEOUS
“We’ve learned the importance of listening to the Holy Spirit and making the most of teachable moments and spontaneous spiritual opportunities,” Sarah and Mark state. “When the children were playing with a remote-controlled toy, we used it to illustrate how the Holy Spirit works in ways we cannot see. Last week a lady fell outside our home. We picked up her shopping and stayed with her until the ambulance came. So the children learned more about kindness and compassion. Our youngest asked if he could pray for her, and the lady was so touched, she cried. That evening we explored the story of the good Samaritan.”
BE TRANSFORMATIVE
“Infusing our whole life with faith has transformed our family,” shares Mark. “Putting God’s love into action changes how we discipline our children with love, how we show forgiveness to
each other, and where we see God at work in each other’s lives. We are also more transparent about our own faith journeys with our children. We tell our children what God is teaching us, how we listen for His voice each day, and how we experience His continual and loving presence in our lives.”
Sarah agrees. “We are seeing many more opportunities to share our faith with our children, in real and practical ways, than when we just focused on worship times, Sabbath School lessons, and getting them to church. And our faith, as adults, has developed in directions we could never imagine! Infusing our family with faith, wherever and whenever we can, has been hard work, but also very rewarding. We’re all on a journey into the very heart of God’s loving character, and I think it’s an adventure that will last forever!”
FAMILY FAITH DISCUSSION STARTERS
TRY THESE AT MEALTIMES, BEDTIMES, TRAVEL TIMES, AND ANYTIME.
• What was one of the happiest moments of your day? Let’s celebrate that joy together!
• What was one of the saddest moments of your day? We want to listen to your story so we can comfort you. (Romans 12:15)
• When did you feel most afraid today? How can we help you feel less afraid? (1 John 4:18)
• What did you see in God’s creation that filled you with wonder today?
• What can I pray about for you today?
• What’s the most helpful thing I can do for you today?
• What three things did you do well today, with God’s help? Let’s celebrate those moments!
• Which character strengths did you practice today? (Find a list here: https://www. viacharacter.org/character-strengths.)
• These are three things I saw you doing well today. (List them.) I was filled with joy!
• You made a good choice today when . . .
• Where did you see God at work today?How did you join Him in His work?
• When did you experience God’s love today? What effect did that have on you?
• What did you learn about God’s love today? Let’s praise Him for His love!
• How did you share God’s love with others today? What happened when you did?
