“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
Ephesians 6:1-4
As God leads and disciplines us like a Good Shepherd, parents are called to shepherd the hearts of our children. On June 21 and 28 we will look at the two parts of Christian parenting – loving leadership and loving discipline. As leaders, parents must model love for God and must guide our children to 1) see His glory so they trust Him; 2) experience His love so they enjoy Him and 3) know His Word so they obey Him.
As shepherds, we must also discipline our children – correcting them when they start to go astray and training them in the way they should go.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.
Psalm 23:1-3
He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
Here is a Parenting Workshop we did at Oakwood in 2019. It presents and applies four goals of Christian parenting – that our kids 1) feel loved; 2) love God; 3) become godly and 4) become world changers.
For more resources on Christian Parenting, here are a few excellent books:
- Shepherding a Child’s Heart – Tedd Tripp
- Dare to Discipline – James Dobson
- Making Children Mind without Losing Yours – Kevin Leman
- Parenting – Paul Tripp
And here are some helpful training videos on RightNow Media. (Email us if you need help logging in.)
- Parenting – Paul Tripp
- Have a New Kid by Friday – Kevin Leman
- Intentional Parenting – Doug Fields