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Does God like chocolate?
My eight year old asked me out of the blue the other day, “But what if Jesus isn’t real?”
I wasn’t expecting such complex questions at such a young age. But there have been plenty of questions I’m not sure how to answer.
“When will I die?”
“How is God everywhere at once?”
“Why do I need to pray if God knows what I’m thinking?”
Children have an uncanny ability for putting us on the spot, asking questions that we often think but don’t ask, and it can be a challenge to know how to respond. For many parents it can feel daunting, worried that they need to give the ‘right’ answer and look as if they have everything figured out. You might feel like this as a church leader or children’s worker too!
But in both cases it’s often the honest exploring of difficult questions that helps faith to grow, in both adults and children. Can you encourage your congregation with some thoughts on how to process difficult questions with others? Especially mums and dads trying to parent ever-curious little ones.
One of the best starting points is to value children’s thoughts. To let them know it is OK to have questions and that even if we don’t know the answers we can still explore together to learn a bit more.
“I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains – but if I have no love, I am nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:2 (Good News Translation)
It’s also a great opportunity for families to look at what the Bible says together, and to talk to others about what they think. They could pray together and ask God to help them understand.
Above all, we need permission to not always have the answers. The more comfortable children feel in being able to ask difficult questions, the more likely it is that they will continue to do so into their teenage and adult years.
So encourage the parents you know not to be afraid of the tricky questions, but to enjoy the adventure of exploring together.
Becky and the Kitchen Table Project team
Can we go trick or treating? Pleeeeease?
With Halloween approaching many parents will be trying to decide what they let their children participate in.
This article from Parenting for Faith looks at how parents can figure out what they think about Halloween and chat to their children about it.
Pumpkin Heroes
Offering an alternative to Halloween can be really helpful to families.
World Vision have a great free resource called Pumpkin Heroes that churches or families can use to shine light into Halloween this year. Check it out now!
Family questions
Could you encourage families to create a question pot at home that anyone can put their questions in anonymously? Then once a week they can have a look at one or two and explore them together.
Perhaps you could make this a church family question pot where you take the opportunity each week to explore questions either from adults or children in the church!
Our brand new event 'Raising Faith' starts in November! Get your tickets today!
2018 tour dates:
13 Nov - Yeovil
14 Nov - Oxford
15 Nov - Belfast
20 Nov - Newcastle
21 Nov - Leeds
22 Nov - Hull
Further dates to come in 2019!
Please send us your stories of inspiring faith at home – good and bad – we know it’s a rollercoaster! We’d love to include them in our emails and on the blog.
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