Author: Thereasa Winnett

Thereasa Winnett is the founder of Teach One Reach One and blogger at Parenting Like Hannah. She holds a BA in education from the College of William and Mary. She has served in all areas of ministry to children and teens for more than thirty years and regularly leads workshops for ministries and churches. She has conducted numerous workshops, including sessions at Points of Light’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service, the National Urban Ministry Conference, Pepperdine Bible Lectures, and Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration. Thereasa lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Greg, where she enjoys reading, knitting, traveling and cooking.

Four Dangerous Christian Parenting Assumptions

As an adult, have your parents ever said something they obviously thought was common knowledge, but which surprised you? When you ask why you weren’t told, they will often say they thought you knew.

As parents, it is easy to assume your child will naturally pick up certain knowledge and skills. After all, they learned to talk didn’t they?

Some children are very savvy. They can be born into horrible environments with no support and turn out to be adults you would think had been raised with every possible advantage. The vast majority of kids though, need intentional training to develop the skills to be successful in life and in the Church.

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Getting Kids Interested in the Bible

Almost every Christian parent would say they want their children to read the Bible. Some may even read it together as a family. Yet how many of us have children who regularly pick up a Bible without prodding, and read it? How many of us still struggle with our own Bible reading?

Over the years, I started to realize there are some things we do, which actually discourage our kids from reading the Bible. Sometimes our Churches may make the Bible seem boring or irrelevant in the life of our children. What can we do to get our children interested enough in the Bible to read it for themselves?

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Raising a Barnabas

To me, one of the most interesting people in the Bible is Barnabas. What kind of person was he that he was best known for encouraging people? Was he just a cheerleader for everyone, or was there more to the story?

It would be great if we could raise children who were encouragers like Barnabas. But what exactly did Barnabas do that we could also teach our kids?

I went back and read everything in the Bible I could find about Barnabas. Barnabas was much, much more than the cheerleader we somehow picture. Here is what I found and how it could translate to skills we teach our own children:

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Bringing the Bible to Life with Food

People often have a hard time understanding the Bible, in part because they have no frame of reference. What is a cubit? How does it feel to wander in a wilderness? Why is it so exciting to find a well?

We can show pictures and tell stories, but the most vivd learning our children and teens will do is from what they experience. You may not live close enough to a wilderness to let a group of teens wander around for a few days, or have a nearby oasis for a field trip, but there are some easy things you can do to bring the Bible to life.

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Hero Worship and God

My brother loved comic book heroes when he was young. He relished the idea of a normal man suddenly turning into a super hero to defend and protect others.

Hero worship is often a natural part of growing up. Our kids might adore athletes, musicians, actors or a host of other people. The problem with heroes is they are sinful people just like the rest of us. No one can live up to the ideals wrapped up in hero worship.

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