Family Talk Pod

How do you help your kids develop an identity of being sent into the world by God? Luke Stehr provides ideas to help your kids recognize the role they can play as people sent by God.  

Hi and welcome to the Family Talk Pod! My name is Luke Stehr, and I’m Community Engagement Coordinator at First Baptist Arlington, but I am also, and probably more importantly, a dad to two very fun little girls ages five and two. I am by no means an expert in parenting, but I love Jesus and I love my daughters, and my wife and are trying to raise them to follow the Jesus way, and chances are, if you’re listening to this, you’re also trying to raise kids in your family to follow the Jesus way too. 

Have you ever thought of your family as a central piece of God’s activity in the world? Have you ever thought about your family as being ordained by God to be his ambassadors in the world, and then what does that mean for your kids? 

We know that in the New Testament entire families and households came to faith in Jesus, and that would’ve included the children of families. They all became part of God’s family, and part of a greater story of blessing the world. When God called Abram, he promised Abram that he would be blessed, but that also through Abram (who became Abraham) and his family, all the families of the earth would be blessed. In Galatians 3:29, the Apostle Paul informs us that those who belong to Jesus are a part of Abraham’s family. Through this big family, all the families of the world will be blessed! 

What does it look like for your family to be a part of this bigger family, taking a part in blessing all the families of the world? 

Theologian Ruth Padilla DeBorst tells the story of a Baptist church in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It’s their commissioning day, and the young children were getting ready to start the new school year. The ministry leaders of the church laid their hands on them, and commissioned them “to learning, to growing, being good friends, and following Jesus at home, school, and neighborhood we commission you.” 

As we’re raising kids, we need to turn our attention to raising them to be the kind of people who take a part in being a presence of Christ wherever they are. Our kids are perhaps more inclined to be missionally minded than even we are.  

As families, let’s talk with our kids about the good gift of learning, and how it enables us to serve the Kingdom of God. How learning to read better enables us to read and know God’s word. How the skills we learn in science and math and social studies build into something bigger that will become skills we can use to help and serve people. How even when they’re hard or frustrating that God can use the things we learn to make life better for other people. How everything we do can be done for God’s glory. 

Let’s talk with our kids about how we should be good friends who love our friends well because God loves us and calls us God’s friends. How being a good friend shows our friends how good God is. 

Let’s talk about how we follow Jesus at school, in our homes, and our neighborhoods. Talk with your kids about how you’re trying to follow Jesus at work, at home, and among your friends.  

Let’s commission our kids to do these things, especially as we’re at the start of another school year. And as we talk with our kids about these things, let’s strive to do them ourselves! Let’s model following the Jesus way for our children! 

Remember to utilize the Family Talk Box! The cards inside provide excellent questions and resources to help you have conversations about following the Jesus way with your children.