There was a time in life when the word "catechism" would have only invoked a look of confusion on my face. Shortly after my look of confusion, I would have struck by a feeling of profound boredom. But nowadays I use a catechism with my own kids to teach them about truths of the Christian faith. Why the change? Since becoming a parent—and since I really started to study the tried-and-true methods of teaching children—I have come to understand that a catechism is a wonderful method of giving kids a map of the Bible. But when looking for a catechism for your kids, what should you keep in mind? 4 Questions to ...Read More
10 Strategies to Creating a More Meaningful Prayer Life
As an extrovert and as someone who was in vocational ministry for several years, I've gotten pretty good at praying publicly. I know how to plagiarize the Bible just enough to sound holy, but not too much to sound unoriginal. I've learned how to keep my prayers short enough to maintain interest, but long enough to sound thoughtful. Yes, I've gotten pretty good at learning how to pray on the street corners with the best of the Pharisees. But when it comes to praying privately, it's hard not to feel like a total failure sometimes. I've gone through many seasons of life where personal prayer has been incredibly ...Read More
5 Proven Ways to Utterly Fail at Keeping Your Resolutions
Let's talk about the traditional New Year goal-making and why you might utterly fail at keeping your resolutions. Let me be the bringer of bad news today. If you're reading this article, you likely have made or are planning to make some New Year's Resolutions, but sadly 88% of you will utterly fail (at least, if the stats are correct). Happy New Year! 5 Proven Ways to Utterly Fail at Keeping Your Resolutions Perhaps your goals are spiritual (reading through the Bible in a year) or relational (spending more time with your kids) or nutritional (losing weight) or practical (getting organized). Whatever it is, nearly ...Read More
Apostles’ Creed History: 10 Things You Should Know
"I will not call it my philosophy; for I did not make it. God and humanity made it; and it made me." - G.K. Chesteron The Apostles' Creed is one of the most used confessions of faith in the global church. History tells us a lot about why the Creed is so important and why it is a great tool for teaching our kids. 1. As far as we know, the Apostles' Creed was not written by the apostles. It was believed throughout the Middle Ages that, on the day of Pentecost, the twelve Apostles were inspired by the Holy Spirit to pen the Apostles’ Creed—each Apostle contributing one of 12 articles. In the late 4th century, ...Read More
Parents: 3 Reasons Your Internet Filter Is Failing You
Can I be frank for a moment? I know the next sentence may make you uncomfortable... I used to watch porn. A lot. I lament thinking about what my life would have been like had I discovered porn any earlier than I did. The habit caused me plenty of grief and was one of the reasons why it was so difficult for me to form relationships. I'm not alone—far from it. Among Christian men in my generation, 57% of us still watch porn once a month or more. Ouch. For younger generations of Christian men, that percentage is much higher—over three quarters of them. For Christian women, it's around 15% that are watching once a ...Read More
The Missing Figure from Your Nativity Set
Nativity sets come in all shapes and sizes. Some contain only a few figures. Others look like small-scale petting zoos, minus the pleasant aroma. Usually the characters in a Nativity set come from Luke 2 (shepherds, angels, and animals), Matthew 2 (wise men), or both (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph), and occasionally Nativity-makers get ambitious and throw in a cast of non-biblical extras: Roman soldiers, the innkeeper's wife, a little drummer boy, or even Santa Claus (just bizarre). All of these figures are interesting characters to talk about with our kids. But the one figure they always leave out is the seven-headed ...Read More
How to Teach Your Kids to Pray (Even If They Don’t Like to Pray)
The other day I noticed one of my kids getting restless while we were praying together, so I stopped praying and asked him, "What's up?" He told me very honestly, "Prayer is boring!" Normally, I would be tempted to chew him out for being so irreverent, but something stopped me. In a moment of uncharacteristic sympathy, I saw things through his eyes: how many times had my mind wandered when others were praying? I told him, "I understand exactly what you mean. It can be hard to enjoy prayer when you don't even see the Person we're talking to. It's easy to get distracted or to think about other things that you think ...Read More
6 Essential Steps to Teaching Your Kids to Pray Biblically (P.R.A.Y.E.R. Model)
Do you spend time teaching your kids to pray? If so, how do you do this? Let's look at this sample prayer: "Dear Jesus, Thank you for mommy, daddy, and my brothers. Help us to win our basketball game tomorrow. Thank you for our food. Amen." Does this kind of prayer sound familiar? While I'm happy my son knows God is interested in all aspects of his life, I want his prayer life to develop more depth as he gets older. I want him to learn to pray in the way Jesus taught his disciples to pray. If you desire to do better at teaching your kids to pray, I invite you to read on (and see the printable you can download to ...Read More
