Teaching with the Scripture

While I was expecting our oldest daughter, we attended a small church in Georgia for a few months where I was the oldest person in the congregation (even older than the pastor and his wife!).  It was an interesting few months for us.  We learned a lot.  We were humbled, too.  We went to the church thinking that we needed one thing--contemporary worship and found that we needed quite another--we needed to be where God wanted us.  That isn't always going to be where we would first choose, though.   One of the things we noticed at that church was that because the church was missing mature Christians, there wasn't anyone walking alongside the very young Christians in the congregation.  There weren't any Bible studies going on and they didn't understand how the Bible applied to their lives.  They understood the sermons which were preached expositorily, but were struggling and didn't understand the basics of the Christian faith.

  

In raising our children in Christians homes, we have the opportunity to walk alongside our children--to help them understand how the Word applies to their life.  Recently, I received a copy of Parenting with Scripture by Kara Durbin for review.  I wanted to look at this book because I've been looking for a resource like this for a few years.  There's been a few that have come along that I've reviewed.  Each has had its own strengths and things that it was missing.  But, I think Parenting with Scripture has a lot what I've been looking for.

Let me explain.  I am a learned teacher.  My husband is a natural teacher.  He simply has that gift of knowing how to explain concepts and ideas.  I, on the other hand, need a tool to get me started.  A tool, like this book.  Parenting with Scripture is a book full of verses on various topics like beauty, apathy, discipline, hospitality, and others.  For each topic, there are several Bible verses, discussion questions, activity ideas, and parenting tip(s).  I liked each of the sections.  They are starting points.  The lists of Bible verse are more thorough than other books and lists I've read.  I really like that there are qualities that are both strengths we would desire to encourage and weaknesses that we would desire to help our children thwart.  There is one part of the pages that I would like to make a caveat for.  It is the parenting tips section.

I tried to find out on the web what perspective Ms. Durbin is writing from, but could only find scant details.  She has two children (I'm not sure how old they are) that she homeschools part-time.  I'm not sure what that means.  She has some experience in elementary ed.  But, parenting and classroom teaching are two different things.  The hard part is that I've become more and more aware that our perspective and experience shapes the advice we give.  So, with this book or any other that includes parenting advice, I would consider whether the author's situation is or has been similar to my own.  Then, if it is or has been different, I would take that into account and think harder about how or if the advice applies to my situation.  So, I would do with this book.  No parenting advice always applies for everyone--because our children are all different, think differently, and respond differently.

If you're looking for a book you could use as a devotional with children ages 6-11 years old, then this would be a great resource.  It is a great tool to use as a starting point for discussions.  I am thankful that as my children get older, he places great age-appropriate books in my lap to encourage and help me along the way.  

Please note that I received a complimentary copy of this book from Moody Publishing for review.