Time, Moments, & Milestones
A Framework for Family Discipleship
The Role of Family in Discipleship
In many ways, culture has convinced parents that it is better to outsource the education and training of their children to professionals. We send them to teachers, counselors, tutors, coaches and churches to learn and develop. Because of this reality, many parents walk in insecurity over their parental influence.
There is nothing wrong with utilizing specialists in specific fields for the sake of your child’s growth; parents aren’t expected to be the expert on everything in the life of their kids. But when it comes to spiritual matters, God gives the primary responsibility of religious instruction and the training of children to parents, as outlined in Scripture (Deut. 6; Ps. 78, 145; Eph. 6).
We recognize there is no one-size-fits-all approach to family discipleship and we don't expect every family to follow our framework; however, we also know that the task of making disciples in your home will not happen without a plan. To help you walk in obedience to God, we offer the framework of time, moments, and milestones as a guide to being intentional with your child's spiritual life.
An Overview of the Framework
• 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.*
• Family Discipleship Time – Creating intentional time built into the rhythm of the family's life for the purpose of thinking about God, talking about God 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.
*Modeling is added as the first point to remind you as a parent that the following three will never happen if you aren't being an example for your children to follow. Showing your children how to walk with God goes much further than teaching your children how to walk with God.