Faith Together

The faith of the youngest members of your family are important to you. Maybe you already know that parents and grandparents are the biggest influencers of the faith—so there’s some pressure to get equipped. Where do you start?

Faith Together is an initiative to help you grow in your own faith so you are ready to walk beside your children or youth as they wrestle with their questions about God and the world. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to view the top goals (that happen to spell out the word FISH so you can remember them!)

The top goals of Faith Together are:

F—Fluency: It’s hard to talk about a faith that you can’t put into words, yet where do you get to practice that kind of thing without sounding like a freak? Being part of a congregation that actually gives you language, helps you process your own feelings about faith (even if that means overcoming past experience with religion) and notice what God is doing in your life is a good way to become fluent. Parents and grandparents need peer groups too! It takes practicing the 4-keys along with friends to engage in deep conversations and a good laugh.

I– Interdependence: The Christian faith is not a solo act— instead of thinking about “our family” think about “the whole family” in the biggest sense of the word “family.” So big that it includes all of creation. The more we grow in our faith, the more we realize that our decisions have consequences on more than ourselves. This expanding circle of concern is exciting because the more we learn about people in other places, the more we learn about God. We can see God through other’s eyes and isn’t that what we want for our children? A view of the world that is built on faith rather than fear?

S– Sending: One look at Jesus and you will see he didn’t spend all his time at church—neither do we. As we go to work, or send our children to school, we need a faith that goes with us. A faith that helps us make decisions about our money and our time so that setting priorities grows out of our Christian values. We can integrate our faith so fully into our lives that the way we care for other people points directly at our faith in Jesus. This idea of sending makes our everyday life a witness to our faith.

H-Home: Most of us relax when we get home—take off our shoes, put on comfy clothes and chill out— yet that’s where faith grows fastest! What happens in our homes is actually more important than what happens when others are watching us. Imagine that your kitchen table is your home altar. Think about the way you treat your family members (yep, every day) as the way you would treat your clients. Through the seasons of life, in good and hard times, our faith, practiced at home holds us together as a family.