Idea number 1: Empower parents by encouraging them to pray for their own children as they go to their groups, while the rest of the church members pray for the families in the church.
Idea number 2: Empower parents by training parents in their role as the primary spiritual influencers of their children. The best time to do this is before the baby is born when they are looking ahead to how they will shape their family and actually have time to listen and think.
Idea number 3: Empower parents by having suggested versions of the Bible that families can use at home. We recommend the Pre-schoolers Bible by V.Gilbert Beers for under 5s/pre-readers and the international children's Bible published by Nelson Word Limited for older children as well as the hands-on Bible and my first hands on Bible.
Idea number 4: Empower Parents when giving communion to the congregation.Invite families to come forward together and pray for the family as they take communion. Why not give the communion to the head of the home to pass on to the other members of the family.
Idea number 5:Empower parents by encouraging families to have a regular family day, where they pray together and play together. Ensure that your church diary leaves plenty of time for busy working families to be with each other.
Idea number 6:Empower parents when children express a desire to follow Jesus in a children's ministry meeting. Wait for the parents to come and give them the privilege and opportunity of leading their own children to Jesus. Let them, as the primary disciplers of the child, take up their role from the start of the child's walk with God.
Idea number 7: Empower parents by appointing a key worker for every child in the church. This person can connect with the parents to help encourage them as they disciple their own children and support them in any specific areas they need. The parents will also have someone in the church they can go to to raise issues, request prayer, etc. Church organizations and individual families work better together when there is an easy way that they can talk to each other.
Idea no 8: Empower parents by allowing parents to use their gifts in the body of Christ. If parents feel impotent, with no value in the body of Christ, they will feel powerless to empower their children. But if the church provides an empowering structure by equipping parents to ever-growing levels of impact at home and in the community, then parents will have an experiential model of how to empower their own children.
Idea number 9: Empower parents by holding a parents evening each year to sit and discuss together the spiritual progress of each child.
Idea number 10: Empower parents by encouraging families to minister together as a family in the church. Include some stations with spiritual content where parents can pray with their children. Encourage families to be involved with church wide events as a family. For example they could come to a prayer room together, lead the prayers together, go on an outreach together.
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