The Parenting for Faith course is a free online eight session course. The goal of the course is to help parents discover that they are perfectly positioned to show their children the reality of a life with God and to empower them to have their own vibrant two-way relationship with Him.
We asked a Pastor some questions on why they run the course, and here are their answers...
1. What made you decide to run a course for families in your church?
I’d been the Children’s Worker for a number of years, and we’ve previously run other parenting courses but they were more about how to parent well ‘generally’, and not so focussed on faith in the home. In October 2020 my role changed slightly to Growing Faith Pastor including how we can have a closer link between church and home life, and as part of that I wanted to see how we could support parents more in bringing faith into everyday life, and this was a brilliant opportunity.
2. Why this one?
The Parenting For Faith course focuses on how parents/godparents/team are in the best position to bring up their children in a life of faith. The course isn’t a set programme of ten steps to make your child a Christian, but identifies five key tools we can use in different situations to bring faith into normal everyday conversations. We were also in lockdown, and the Parenting For Faith course was easily adaptable to being held on zoom as it’s mainly video based with opportunities for discussion in groups which we did in breakout rooms!
3. What were the costs involved?
Running the course is free, which is very generous! We sent out packs to everyone who signed up which included sweets and a book, but that was something we wanted to do to bless those on the course.
4. How did it go? What were the highlights?
Everyone really enjoyed it and found it extremely helpful. Parents saw they weren’t alone in dealing with tricky questions, or feeling like they didn’t talk about God enough at home. The highlight was connecting participants with people in a similar situation (parents, grandparents, godparents etc) and them being able to work through how they would use the key tools. A lot of people said they found the discussion time really valuable and wanted it to be longer.
5. What would you say to anyone looking at this course and wondering whether it might work in their community?
I would absolutely recommend they run the course – and it can work for any group of people! From a couple of parents getting together, to a large group from across a church congregation all in different situations, it’s really easy to adapt. It’s very straightforward as the host as it’s all done on the video for you and participant handbooks are provided so they can make notes and follow along with it. The Parenting For Faith team are super helpful at answering questions, and the website has a wealth of resources to help you with answering specific questions/situations children may have.
To find out more about Parenting for Faith, visit www.parentingforfaith.org