As you can imagine, we’re preparing to bring home our (first) child from Korea in early 2008 (sometime around February, possibly). In addition to practical things like getting a crib ready, we’re also thinking about the kind of environment, or culture, that we want to create in which to raise a child. “… one of our jobs as parents is to create … a culture where our child can grow and develop into a strong person who honors God.”
We’ve written a couple things along these lines before, including Parenting as Character Building 1.0 and 2.0.
We believe one of our jobs as parents is to create a certain kind of culture, a culture where our child can grow and develop into a Christ-following person who honors God. We’ll post some thoughts on various aspects of the kind environment we want to create, starting with Deuteronomy 6.4-9, which talks about shaping culture in the home …
Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up (Deuteronomy 6.7).
Shaping a God-centered culture. Our top priority as Christ-following parents is to create an environment where God is at the center of life. God is not simply a part of our lives or something that we add to the mix. God is our life.
Some of the ways we’ll try to keep God at the center include prayer, reading and internalizing Scripture, and by engaging in spiritual conversations, including the act of “doing theology” together as a family. Doing theology together simply means discussing life from a biblical perspective. Doing so, we believe, will help our child develop a biblical worldview (i.e. viewing life, and engaging in life, through the lens of the Scriptures).
BTW, it’s fun to think about parenting because parenting is simply one form of leadership. Much of what we’re thinking about is very much informed by what we’ve learned about leadership. Therefore, a lot of what we write in these posts may be applied to other areas of leadership as well.
Have any advice for us? How have you shaped a God-centered culture in your home?