Part of living authentic faith is being intentional with leaving a spiritual legacy. Just like most of us have financial goals and plans for our families, we need to be even more diligent with our spiritual plans for our loved ones.
Faith Talks are the platform from which families formally study the Bible at home every week. Faith Talks are a time set aside for family, fun and Scripture. It is more than an event, it’s a family tradition!
God Moments are those little teaching opportunities God provides as you are simply living life together as a spiritual family. These are not planned by us, but we strive to be ready to take advantage of every opportunity that God provides in our daily lives. Christians who are living authentic faith focus on embracing God moments to teach biblical truth to others in experiential ways.
Ideas for Faith Talks and God Moments:
- What’s Our Mission?—Together, craft a family mission statement. Decide what your worthy purpose, visions, and values are. Then have everyone commit to living that way, both privately and publicly. God will be placed at the center of your home not by chance but because you’ve purposed it to be that way.
- Before and After—Prepare for worship by playing the soft sounds of Christian music in your house. After church or Sunday school, ask children not only what they learned but how they can put the lessons into practice. Display and refer to take-home papers.
- Pray Without Ceasing—Move prayer beyond the dinner table and bedroom. Pray for and with children as they head to school, when you’re driving and see an ambulance, or when a family member is discouraged or facing a challenge.
- Cleansed Hearts—Together, carve a happy face into a pumpkin. Remove the seeds and place them in a bowl inside the pumpkin. Say: “This pumpkin represents our hearts before we accept Jesus' gift of forgiveness.” Have family members take turns reaching inside the pumpkin. Say: “The cold, wet seeds are just as yucky as our cold hearts are before we join God’s family. Once you invite Jesus into your life, though, He cleans out your sin, just like cutting open a pumpkin and scooping out the yucky seeds.” Throw away the seeds. Say: “Jesus makes our hearts happy so God’s love can shine out from us to a dark world.” Place a candle inside the pumpkin and light it. Close by reading Matthew 5:16.
- Goal Tenders—You’ll need some bowls and buttons. Try tossing the buttons into the bowls from 3 feet away. Then discuss your success with this goal. Say: “Sometimes we have to try several times to achieve our goals. But God gives us each a special goal to strive for. Listen to what it is.” Read aloud Philippians 3:12-14. Say: “Our goal is to become what God wants us to be. We can’t achieve that in one year, but we keep striving toward the goal.” Move a bowl closer to you. Say: “Let’s take turns tossing a button into this bowl and saying one way we’ll try to become what God wants us to be; for example, reading your Bible, praying, singing songs to God, or showing love and kindness to others. Remember to strive for that goal every day, week, month, and year.”
