How To Be a Better Parent
Some life lessons are better caught than taught. I’d better explain. Let’s say you are young parents and you want to raise mission-minded kids or at least you want them to have a passion to reach lost people in need of salvation. “It takes strong parental influence to raise our kids with a passion to reach the lost,” says one purposeful mom. “Mission minded parents see raising mission minded children as an incredibly important part of parenting!” If you want to raise children who think outside their own little world and have a desire to share the Gospel with the unreached, it must be a parental priority.
Our parents could not afford to send us on a mission trip, but we certainly understood the why behind mission work. We are part of a denomination that sends God-called missionaries to parts of the world we would likely never go, unless of course He sent us. Visiting missionaries were frequently invited to share about the work that God was doing where they had been planted. Our church places great emphasis on missions, requiring missionaries to go on deputation tours throughout the United States when furloughed. Many times, those missionaries ate meals at our dinner table, adding to our family’s excitement and enthusiasm for missions. I’m certain that the experiences and influences of childhood can be long lasting and often determine the road a child will take as he or she grows up.
How do parents teach biblical stewardship to their kids? Start with teaching them to tithe. Tithing is an equitable stewardship plan. The math is simple. It doesn’t matter how many zeroes there are in your salary or your savings. “It’s about stewarding every penny, no matter how little or how much you have.” My parents taught me this principle as a child in the 1950s when I started getting fifty cents a week allowance. They also gave me my first box of tithing envelopes! Some of us need to start putting our money where our faith is and begin to excel in the grace of giving (p. 250).
So, yes, my new book, Dancing with the Impossible can show young parents how to be better parents so the legacy of mission work and stewardship can be passed on to the next generation. My heart for missions was cultivated in a parsonage with parents who believed missions should be a priority. My Mom and Dad are in heaven now but I wonder if they know I am preparing for my 48th Mission Trip abroad in September 2023.
