As Christian parents, we are always considering ways to teach faith to our children. Belief in God and Jesus as the Messiah are the bedrock of our family and more than anything, we desire to pass that faith on to our kids. Through the years, we’ve learned that establishing traditions is one of the best ways to intentionally teach faith to children.
In the Old Testament, God explicitly told parents to train their children in the ways of the Lord.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Deut. 6:5-7
This verse makes clear the DAILY walk and talk of godliness assigned to parents. But, in addition to that, God gave his people under the Old law WEEKLY traditions, like the Sabbath, and ANNUAL traditions like Passover. Other yearly traditions included week-long trips back to Jerusalem with other believers such as the Feast of Booths and the Feast of Pentecost (Lev. 23)
Recently at church, we were studying through some of these Old Testament traditions that teach faith, and I was struck by how intentional God asks parents to be in the spiritual training of their children. Raising godly kids doesn’t happen on accident! For these feasts, parents had to plan ahead and make careful preparations.
Intentional, carefully planned traditions that teach faith and instill godliness are a huge part of how parents can pass on their faith to their children.
As we studied the scriptures together, some of the mothers shared traditions they have used to teach faith to their kids. They were such wonderful ideas – I wanted to share them here with you. My hope is that you will glean one or two traditions you can use with your own family to teach faith to your kids!
Annual Traditions that Teach Faith
- Family Vacations – besides the bonding, activities like singing hymns together in the car, listening to sermons or Bible read aloud while traveling
- Camping Trips
- Missionary Trips
- Vacation Bible School each summer
- Summer Bible Camp as teens
- Attend Gospel Meetings or special church events
- January – save up all the Christmas cards; choose 1 family daily and pray for them
- Thanksgiving
- Holidays
Birthdays
- When little: choose a birthday family from church to come over and celebrate their special day
- Age 9, 10, or 11: Sex Talk – take the child out to a fancy “grown up” dinner. After dinner, at home, explain more about sex.
- Age 12: Freedoms & Responsibilities – Ask the child to write out all of the freedoms they would like to have now that they are getting older (such as having a cell phone or staying up later). Explain that with more freedom comes more responsibility and determine what those will be.
- Age 13: Jelly Beans – give the child a large assortment of jelly beans as an object lesson that as you enter your teen years there are many options choices open to you, but not all will have a positive results.
- Age 15: Purity Ring – give the child a purity ring and discuss sexual purity and abstinence before marriage
- Age 16, 17, or 18: Epistles – ask several families or adults important to your child to write a letter to him to keep the faith, be strong, etc. These are positive, encouraging letters to lift your child up on days of trials.
- Celebrate the child’s spiritual birthday – celebrate when a child decides to become a Christian! This is the most important day of their lives! Commemorate with a commitment ring or bracelet. Each year thereafter, celebrate it going by out for ice-cream or in some other way.
Every Once in a While
- Mother & Daughter Weekend (or breakfast or …)
- Father-Daughter Date Nights
- Father & Son Camping Trips
- Mother & Son dinners
- Shopping Trips to pick out clothes while discussing modesty and dressing with godliness
READ: ABC Bible Memory Verse Cards – Free Download
Weekly Traditions that Teach Faith
- Preparing on Saturday for Sunday worship -help the child make sure their Bible lesson is completed, take bath, clothes chosen & ready, early bedtime, etc.
- Weekly church attendance! – this one is SO important!
- Modeling taking the Lord’s Supper Communion at church
- Attend mid-week Bible class
Daily Traditions that Teach Faith
- Daily family devotionals – before school, at a meal, at bedtime, whenever is a consistent time for you
- When potty-training, sing, “Jesus Loves Me” as a way to teach how long to wash your hands
- When ambulance goes by, pray for those who are suffering
- Bedtime Bible stories
- Bedtime prayer
- Modeling daily Bible study
- Have a family song, mantra, or verse you say together daily
- Scriptures and notes of encouragement in their lunchbox for school
- When child is old enough to drive, leave post-it notes on steering wheel or visor of car with scriptures
- Scripture notes on bathroom mirror
- When kids bicker, make them sit together to work out squabbles, and sing a hymn together.
- Teach kids to say “I love you” when you say goodbye on the phone or in person because you never know when it might be the last time.
READ: Making Kids Bible Study Happen Everyday
Use Meal Times Strategically
- Prayer of gratitude before meals
- At dinnertime, ask, “what did you do for someone else today?”
- Practice scripture memorization at breakfast
- Listen to a sermon podcast or Bible read aloud at lunch
- Play Bible trivia games at dinner
- Do devotionals while eating, reading scripture aloud together
- Discuss spiritual things
Teach Faith Through Sword Training
In our family, we have a tradition of giving Bibles to our children at specific ages. At birth, each baby is given a tiny baby Bible. As they grow into toddlers, they pat their Bible, and hug their Bible, sleep with their Bible at times, and sometimes – yes – gnaw on their Bible. Long before they can read, they turn the pages of God word and hold it close to their hearts and learn to lisp simple memory verses.
On the first day of kindergarten, we present our little scholar with a bigger Bible, NIrV version, that is easy to read and understand. We explain how we go to school to learn to read and think so we can understand and handle accurately God’s word.
At age 11, we present our children with a grown-up Bible, NASB or ESV version. This Bible is a nicely-bound journaling Bible where we encourage them to take notes through their teen years. This Bible is the one that will be their sword as they go out into the world!
Take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.
Deut. 4:9
So, there you have it! Over 40 ideas for traditions that teach faith to our kids! I hope these ideas inspire you to build family traditions that root your children firmly in their faith so they might become shining lights in the darkness!
