What is God’s Plan for Your Child’s Spiritual Training?

Parents are responsible for spiritually training their children. One overall premise we gain from Deuteronomy 6:5-9 is that spiritual training is constant. We can’t box it up and pull it out an hour a week or even an hour a day and expect what we’re saying to make a lasting impression. This is a 24/7 job.

But what is the plan for that training?

Let’s jump over to a familiar verse in the New Testament: 2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. One of the reasons God gave us His Word is to train us, to show us how to live the Christian life, so what better training plan to copy than God’s plan for training us?

1. Teaching. We are to teach our children, not just about Bible events and characters but also how our decisions in every area of our lives should first and foremost be made in light of what God says.

* Yes, that wildflower is pretty – think of all the different colors God used in flowers.
* What do you think? Do you think we should allow you to watch a movie that has so much bad language? (Part of teaching is challenging kids to think for themselves – with parental guidance to come to correct conclusions.)
* Let’s do a day trip and visit that glass factory and watch the glass-making demonstrations. God has given people unusual and unique talents.
* We’re proud of you. You had a good game tonight. We’re even more proud of the way you encouraged the boy who dropped the ball.

2. Reproof/Rebuking. This can be a challenging area in training a child. But as parents, we must realize that children are capable of understanding that there is a right and wrong way to do things. When a child does something wrong, we must point it out to him. Once a child understands that something is wrong but continues to do it, he must be appropriately punished.

Unfortunately, parents often use sarcasm, teasing, ridicule and even cruelty in reproving their kids. The purpose of reproof is not to make our children feel ashamed, rejected, ignorant or guilty but to show them God’s standard for making the right choices – and we must be consistent in doing this. Something that is wrong on Tuesday is also wrong on Wednesday even if we’re busy on Wednesday and don’t want to take the time to stop our kids from what they’re doing.

3. Correction. One of the most vital areas of training is to teach a child that wrongdoing must be corrected. Correction is helping a child adjust to a situation and do it the right way.

Often correction is not for a moral issue but simply teaching life skills. For instance, a 3-year-old learning her ABCs might insist on skipping the letter “J.” A parent needs to go over and over the alphabet until she gets it – but she shouldn’t be punished for not quite getting it right.

Correction of moral issues, on the other hand, such as disobedience, lying and stealing, should (in most cases) follow appropriate reproof and punishment.

4. Training in righteousness. One of the main goals for parents is to train their kids in righteousness and disciple their children for Christ. The word “discipline” comes from the same root as disciple. Parents who carelessly permit their children to do and believe what they want to believe are making a huge mistake. Christian parents have a responsibility to convey to their children the discipline of a Christian life.

Discipling a child involves teaching a system of self-control with the goal of building character and causing a child’s behavior to conform to Christ-like attitudes, words and behavior.

All of these components of child training require that a parent live for Christ. Not that the parent will be perfect but that he will voluntarily seek to follow the Lord. The parent also needs to share with the child the remarkable grace of God, which involves forgiveness.

Spiritual training is hard work, but it is also our responsibility to train children to know, love and serve the Lord in the midst of a crooked and perverse world.



Linda Weddle is senior U.S. program designer at Awana. She grew up in Awana, her children took part in Awana, and now her grandchildren all are in Awana. Linda is author of How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph.