Faith is central to our role as Christians and the handing down of this faith from one generation to the next generation is above all the role of parents. Andy Woodliffe, who attended the recent seminar entitled “Getting to the Heart of Parenting” reflects on why this is important.

In the book of Joshua, Israel triumphantly entered and conquered the land of Canaan after forty years of wandering in the wilderness. They did so under the leadership of Joshua – the brave and faithful servant of Moses. However, in the next book of the Bible, Judges, after Israel had settled the land, Joshua died and is brought for burial. The greatest leader of that generation was no more.

Then we read a shocking and disturbing statement:

“And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that He had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10)

The writer of Judges tells us that after the first generation living within the Promised Land had died, the following generation neither knew God nor what He had done for Israel. The comment is a searing indictment of the people of that first generation. They manifestly failed in their parental responsibility and had failed to communicate even the basic facts of their salvation to their own children. As a consequence, we see the rapid unraveling of sin and rebellion that forms much of the remainder of the book.

So we are left with some obvious questions. What was that first generation doing? How had they allowed such a terrible situation to arise?

Moreover, how can we avoid such a tragedy with our own children? How can we be faithful parents and lead them in the knowledge of the gospel?

These were some of the questions discussed at the Cathedral Parenting Seminar, led by Rev Gordon Kong. We were reminded that the gospel of Jesus Christ is absolutely central to our role as parents. It is the message of fundamental importance that has to be relayed to our children above all things; including our own idols of academic success, financial stability, future prospects, or simply good behavior.

When we understand the gospel – the message that God has graciously acted to redeem us through the cross of Christ, that he has forgiven us our sins, and that we have been adopted as his sons through Christ – then our goals and aspirations for our children should radically change. As our lives are shaped and formed by these incredible truths, we will also earnestly desire for our children to be gripped by them. True Christian parenting will not be satisfied with the outward appearance of respectability – we are not in the business of making pleasant, middle-class teenagers. We are in the business of making disciples of Jesus Christ. And this can only happen when we ourselves value being his disciples.

Finally, I regret that I have insufficient space to describe the teaching of the session in any depth, so I must simply conclude by giving my sincere recommendation to all the parents who missed this marvelous opportunity. All the attendees I spoke to found it extremely helpful and worthy of praise. I fervently hope that a similar seminar will be repeated in the near future so that more people can benefit from the excellent teaching.

Materials from the seminar were taken from Paul Tripp’s training material, “Getting to the Heart of Parenting”. Find out more here: www.paultripp.com/parenting