If you have kids (most camp families do) and you’ve been spending a lot of extra time together these days (most families are), then how your children are growing is something that is likely on the forefront of your mind. It has hit me in a big way during this pandemic - I can’t blame teachers, friends or even grandparents for the things that my kids do that doesn’t reflect Jesus very well… I have me, myself and I (and maybe a little bit Dash) to think about.

Over the past few months, our small group at church has been reading through the book Family Discipleship by Matt Chandler and Adam Griffin, which I’d like to offer to you all as a helpful resource for thinking through the intentional discipleship of your children (and parents!) over the coming years.

Two quotes stick out (one from the book, one from somewhere else):

“You don’t drift towards God, you drift away from God” (Unknown)

“Your faith is your children’s best possible inheritance. Pass it on to them as often and thoroughly as you can.” (Family Discipleship, page 142)

If you’re here, reading this blog post, it’s likely that you’re somewhat invested in your family - you want to see your kids growing, loving and connecting with God. So, I’ll offer a quick summary of the book for you, with the hope that you’ll consider reading it for more details!

In short, the book is about three types of discipleship that you can use to lead your home: time, moments and milestones:

• Family Discipleship 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.

• Family Discipleship Moments: Capturing and leveraging opportunities in the course of everyday life for the purpose of gospel-centered conversations.

• Family Discipleship Milestones: Marking and making occasions to celebrate and commemorate significant spiritual milestones of God’s work in the life of the family and child.

All three of these are important, but one of the best parts of this book is the chapter before these are all described. It’s all about modeling. In essence, what they say is this: it’s great if you want your family to have amazing discipleship time, discipleship moments and discipleship milestones, but if you’re not will to practice what you preach, it’s not going to add up to a whole lot. It convicted me as a father and husband, and I think it will do the same for you!

This summer at Beacon, we’re planning to look a lot at family discipleship, and what it’s like to lead Christ-centred families. I would say that this book is a great introduction to the idea, and if you don’t have it by then, it will very likely be on our “staff picks” shelf in the Tuck Shop!

As we continue to journey through time apart from each other, one of our goals is to continue to bring our Beacon family some resources and plans that can help redeem the time in front of us as we wait for the world return towards normal. That’s why Luke “Kodiak” LaRocque is sharing a book, podcast, movie or other cultural product that could be of interest to you and helpful to your family!