Parent Book Recommendation
Book Title: Family Discipleship: Leading Your Home Through Time, Moments, & Milestones
Authors: Matt Chandler and Adam Griffin.
“Family Discipleship” is not only one of the greatest books on parenting that I have read, but also has assisted me in my discipleship of others. This book is a highly practical and informative book on discipleship in the home. It introduces and unpacks the irreplaceable role that a parent or caregiver play in the life of their child. It tackles some of the unique struggles that parents and caregivers often face and how to lead your family in spite of your short-comings as a follower of Jesus, and a parent. This book has the opportunity to be a great encouragement to you as a parent or caregiver, as well as designed to give many practical tools and strategies to help you lead your family in discipleship.
This book has two major sections. The first chunk of this book dives deep into the impact of discipleship in the family and the significance of the role of the parent/caregiver. The second chunk is much more practical and strategic in its approach, helping develop a plan for you to disciple your family.
There are a couple quotes that really stuck out to me in the first section of this book that I would love to share with you, as well as a few of my reflections.
1.“As a parent, you will sometimes feel inadequate. That might be especially true when it comes to your understanding of God or his word or your ability and qualifications to teach it. Set your mind on the promises of God and his ability instead of feeling discouraged by a preoccupation with your inabilities.”
Just over a year ago my wife and I welcomed our first child, our daughter, Evelyn, into the world. It was a beautiful and terrifying moment in which I immediately felt so much love for such a small human, as well as a million thoughts of inadequacy. Within the first hour of welcoming my daughter into the world I had unknowingly recognized the weight of my role as her father, as the steward of this wonderful and beautiful gift God had given. Just over a year later, this feeling of inadequacy hasn’t left, it takes on new forms as my daughter grows and changes, and I’m sure this feeling will never leave and I think that’s okay. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul writes “in my weakness he (God) is strong,” and knowing this reminds me that it is my responsibility as a parent to show the goodness and love of God to this wonderful and beautiful gift He has given me, even in a few years when she starts talking back.
2. “First, parents have the potential to be the most influential person in a child’s life. Second, God has clearly commanded that the highest priority of parenting is helping children, know, follow, and trust him.”
I have read multiple studies and books which clearly show that parents have, by far, the most impact on the lives of the children over any outside adult or friends. Whether this shapes the child for better or for worse, as parents we have an irreplaceable role to play in the development and discipleship of our children. For me, this is a scary thought and makes me really want to focus on being a perfect person for my daughter to become like, but in moments like these I remember that my daughter doesn’t need an example of a perfect person. She needs an example of an imperfect father, humbly chasing after his Heavenly Father.
The second section of this book, as mentioned earlier, is much more practical and helpful in forming rhythms of discipleship in the home. There are four tools to help build rhythms of discipleship in the home that I would like to give a mention:
1. Modeling: Serving as a godly example for your family, living out your genuine walk with God, and demonstrating true repentance where and when you fall short.
2. Time: Creating intentional time built into the rhythm of the family’s life for the purpose of thinking about, talking about, and living out the Gospel.
3. Moments: Capturing and leveraging opportunities in the course of everyday life for the purpose of gospel-centered conversations.
4. Milestones: Marking and making occasions to celebrate and commemorate significant spiritual milestones of God's work in the life of the family and child.
The authors go into much greater depths and provide some really great application pieces on these four tools that I strongly recommend you take the time to read and contemplate.
I highly recommend and encourage you to purchase and read this book. You can find it on Amazon for just under $35. I know this is a bit pricey for a book, but I believe that any money invested in the discipleship of our children is so worth it. If you’re unable to purchase the book at this time, but would still love to read it, I have a copy that I am willing to lend out and I can put you on the list to borrow.