EMAIL 1
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Subject Line: Building Intergenerational Discipleship into Your Family
Dear Parents,
When it comes to passing on faith to your children, what’s your strategy? Obviously, you’re working to have a growing and vibrant faith yourself. You want to have your child involved in a church where they can learn the stories of God and develop a solid foundation. You may not know this, but you also need to be highly intentional when it comes to connecting your kids to older generations who will model faith and encourage your kids as they grow. You need intergenerational discipleship!
This month, we are going to provide you with some resources that we hope will paint a picture for you of what healthy intergenerational discipleship could look like for you and your family. Our Online Parenting Class Video and Toolbox Resource entitled The 4 I’s of Intended Influence: A Parent’s Guide To Intentional Intergenerational Discipleship will help you better understand the importance of intergenerational discipleship and give you some practical steps to take.
To watch this month’s Online Parenting Class video, click the link below.
[ INSERT LINK TO ONLINE PARENTING CLASSÂ VIDEO ]
Cheering you on!
[INSERT LEADER’S SIGNATURE HERE]
EMAIL 2
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Subject Line: Moving the Needle of Faith Through Intergenerational Discipleship
Dear Parents,
As we continue to seek to help you lead your kids spiritually, we have a thought for you. One of the most important things you can do as a parent is connect your kids to significant, older adults who will pour into them spiritually. Sure, you want your kids to enjoy coming to church and participating in all the events. But the thing that will really move the needle when it comes to them growing in their faith is helping them develop relationships with adults in your church who will spur them on in their faith. We call this intergenerational discipleship.
This month’s resources, like our Online Parenting Class Video and Toolbox Resource, entitled The 4 I’s of Intended Influence: A Parent’s Guide To Intentional Intergenerational Discipleship, will help you better understand the importance of intergenerational discipleship and take some steps into it. Also, check out this month’s blog article that will offer you some Scripture, encouragement, and some practical ideas on learning how grandparents can be so much more than babysitters in the life of your child. And if you haven’t watched this month’s encouraging Online Parenting Class video, you still have time. To read the blog article or watch the video, click on the links below.
[ INSERT LINK TO M2P PARENTING BLOG ARTICLE ]
[ INSERT LINK TO M2P ONLINE PARENTING CLASS VIDEO ]
We are in this together! Let us know if there is ever anything we can do for you or your family.
Praying for you as you lead at home,
[INSERT LEADER’S SIGNATURE HERE]
M2P August KIDS Parent Video Script
As parents of kids, we kind of have a lot going on.
When it comes to raising our kids spiritually, we need to acknowledge a few things. First, we need to embrace the fact that we are the primary spiritual leaders for our kids. They look to us to teach them about faith and model what it means to have a relationship with God. If we want for our kids to grow into disciples of Jesus, we need to lead the way. The second thing we need to acknowledge is the fact that we need help. We need help to better understand our kids, we need help when it comes to certain issues, and we need other adults saying the same things we are saying so our kids hear about a relationship with God from people who are not us. What we need is an intergenerational cloud of witnesses helping our kids grow in their faith.
Today, I want for you to think about the idea of intergenerational discipleship. Now, intergenerational discipleship means exactly what it says. It’s discipleship that happens in the midst of all the generations together. We should want for our kids to be in an environment where they have the opportunity to meet, build relationships with, and learn from people of all ages. In church, this can sometimes naturally happen with Sunday school teachers or small group leaders but imagine what would happen if we, as their parents, took it further.
Years ago, I heard about a reverse ratio. Typically, when you assemble a group of kids for a class or a group or a field trip, there needs to be a ratio of one adult for every 6/8/10 kids. You have to determine what the best number is. Well, the reverse ratio says this. As kids are growing up, there needs to be five adults surrounding every kid, pouring into them, teaching them, and encouraging them in their faith. And I would argue that a few of their five need to be from an older, more seasoned generation. Many of you have our parents who fit this category, and that’s great. If your parents are followers of Jesus and want to be a part of discipling your kids, lean into that for sure. But some of our kids don’t have grandparents who want to pour into them spiritually, so we have to find that influence elsewhere, and hopefully, that’s in your church.
As a parent, here are a few things you can do. First, make sure your kids are as involved in church as much as possible. As I mentioned, Sunday school, small groups, and “big church” are all great places for your kids to rub shoulders with people in older generations. Get to know the adults who are leading your kids and foster those relationships. What if you invited someone who is leading your child over for dinner one night or out to lunch with your family after church? You have the opportunity to bring people closer to your kids as you seek help in discipling them.
Secondly, look for opportunities to surround your kids with new, again maybe older voices who can encourage them and model what having a real faith looks like. My guess is that there are people in your church who might not teach or volunteer every week, but they can have a presence in your child’s life that will make a real difference. It’s your job to foster these kinds of relationships so that your child is in an environment where intergenerational discipleship happens.
And finally, I would encourage you to be involved in the discipleship of other kids in your church. This could mean that you become a teacher or a leader. Maybe you volunteer at events or coach a team or something else. Or it could simply mean that you make an effort to meet other families in your church and pay attention to the kids, encouraging them along the way. You can play a role in the discipleship of someone else’s kids. You could be a part of some kids 5.
I hope that your kids are going to be a part of the kids’ ministry at your church, where they are surrounded by other kids, they can build friendships, and they can be led by a least one caring adult. But don’t miss the power of a bigger picture of intergenerational discipleship. Do whatever you can to surround your kids with cool, young, hip leaders who your kids will fall in love with, but also surround them with older, more seasoned adults who can share a depth of faith that will have a tremendous impact on your child.