What is Spiritual Parenting

Over the next few weeks we will be writing short previews of each session for the Spiritual Parenting conference in April. This will allow  you to know what you can expect during the conference, how to explain it to others you may want to invite, and a teaser of sorts to whet your appetite.

Too much of our time is spent trying to chart God on a grid, and too little is spent allowing our hearts to feel awe. By reducing Christian spirituality to a formula, we deprive our hearts of wonder.

Donald Miller

As parents we want to do a good job raising our children. There are many books, blogs and other resources currently produced that give us all sorts of formulas (and charts) to parenting, to raising good kids. I recently saw the following topics; Raising the Confident Child, Raising the Happy Child, The Happiest Child on the Block, Key’s to Raising your Children the French Way (and the Chinese way), How to Make Awesome (happy, sporty, smart, gifted, funny) Kids. There is nothing wrong with checking these sorts of books out from the library. They all offer encouragement and support for our families. But we question the use of formulas as the main framework for raising children. In spiritual parenting we are learning how to put our children in the path of God and watching them learn to love Jesus. Spiritual parenting is about cultivating environments for God’s Spirit to be at work in our children’s hearts.

Spiritual Parenting, a term used by author Michelle Anthony, is not about seeking a formula. Rather spiritual parenting is about what it means to seek God as our primary audience “to please Him alone with our parenting and see Him alone for the strength and power to do so. Spiritual parenting is not perfect parenting–it’s parenting from a spiritual perspective with eternity in mind.” Through this conference we will explore ways to change our search for the perfect formula and say, “I want to parent the child or children the God gave me in such a way that I first honor God, and then second, create the best environment to put my children in the path of the Divine.”

In learning what a spiritual parent is we will explore the following conversations:

*How we define ourselves. What if our children were defined by their actions of justice and mercy, faithfulness and love? What if they were a generation who lived in the world and still proclaimed these things by their very lives? A spiritual life is one that is transformed and out of hiding.

*Cultivating environments for faith growth. The joy of parenting can be spent on cultivating environments for our children’s faith to grow, teaching them how to cultivate a love relationship with Jesus as we cultivate our own, living our lives authentically in front of them so that they become eyewitnesses to our own transformation. 

*Igniting a transforming faith. I felt confident that I could teach them (my children) good morals and values and could for the most part keep them away from the dangers of this world… But if my job was not to merely control my children’s behavior in these matters, then what was it? I realized that my goal was much more grand than I had imagined–much more compelling. My goal was to pass on a vibrant and transforming faith.

We look forward to hearing Michelle Anthony discuss these topics more in depth at the conference through her DVD conference series. We hope you can join us.

Over the next few months the Opus group is also reading articles on parenting that you might enjoy as we approach the conference. Opus Readings & discussion dates

All quotes and italics come out of Spiritual Parenting; an awakening for today’s families. By Michelle Anthony