Parents wonder, “What should I teach my children to help them grow spiritually?” Our job as parents is to train our children to love God and serve Him. We can begin this training at an early age.

 The role of parents is to cultivate the heart of the child to bear spiritual fruit by consistently doing five things:

1. Removing the stones of apathy by modeling integrity (Prov 20:7; Col 3:21).
2. Removing the weeds of foolishness through discipline (Prov 13:24; 22:15).
3. Plowing the hard ground of the heart with instruction in God’s law and holiness (Rom 3:19-20; 7:7)
4. Sowing the seed of the gospel through teaching both in formal family devotions and informally through teachable moments as they arise daily (Deut 6:6-7; Eph 6:4).
5. Watering all of your efforts by prayerful dependence upon the work of the Holy Spirit (Mark 10:25-27).
 

Most often, fruit-bearing takes place later as the child gets older and is able to make independent choices.

 Most of the teaching for young children is to focus on behavior, what’s expected of them. They look to us for guidance. They are not in a position to tell us what they believe. Young children are not mature enough to understand the ramifications of conversion and render a valid profession of faith (this is not to say a young child cannot exercise saving faith, I only mean that we are not able to discern the validity of their profession of faith).

 It is spiritual malpractice for a parent or teacher to apply pressure on a child to make a profession of faith rather than patiently waiting for God to bring about faith in the child’s heart. The reason for this is because if you do apply that pressure, the child is not able to emotionally bear it and will go ahead and make that profession simply to satisfy the adult. The child will then go through life with a false profession of faith.