Family faith formation …
Parents should take the leading role in equipping their children to love and live for Jesus. So how do parents do this? Here are some insights from Deuteronomy 6:5-9.
Family faith formation starts with you.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts” Deuteronomy 6:5-6.
Note the phrases “with all your heart” and “on your hearts.” The biblical definition of the heart is the totality of our being. It’s more than emotions. It includes thoughts, desires, affections, imaginations, reasoning powers and intentions. To love the Lord with all your heart is to love Him with your entire being, encompassing your emotions, intellect, and will.
Eugene Peterson paraphrases Deuteronomy 6:6 in The Message: “Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you, and then get them inside your children.”
Note the phrase “get them (the scriptures) inside of you.” If God’s Word isn’t branded on your heart, there’s no way you can impress it on your child’s heart. Cultivating family faith requires authentic parental faith. When you’re deeply in love with Jesus, it affirms and endorses what you teach your children about Him.
Family faith formation is a journey.
“Impress them (the scriptures) on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” Deuteronomy 6:7.
The New Living Translation says, “Repeat them again and again to your children.” Note the phrase “again and again.” Faith formation isn’t a one-off exercise. Nor can it be compartmentalized. Faith formation is an ongoing 24/7 undertaking.
My wife and I are empty nesters. But our God-given responsibility to foster our children’s faith formation didn’t end when they moved out of our home. We’re obligated for the rest of our lives to equip and encourage our children and grandchildren to follow Jesus. There’s no retirement from nurturing family faith. We’re to do it naturally and normally whenever and wherever we can.
Fostering faith formation shouldn’t be complicated. According to Deuteronomy 6:7, there are three simple things you can do:
- Talk about Jesus and His Word in the home. Even the busiest families make time to sit down to eat together. Research indicates that when families eat together at least five times a week, they build strong, enduring bonds. Prioritizing table time nourishes children’s faith and spiritual growth. The kitchen table, certainly in my home, is where we connect with God’s Word interactively and experientially – the place where we’ve grappled to understand and develop a biblical worldview we can stand by and live by.
- Talk about Jesus and His Word while traveling (“along the road”). When you’re in the car, your family is a captive audience, and it’s a beautiful opportunity to share what God is doing in your life. So, use your trips to share with your children what God is teaching you, to ask questions, debate issues, sing choruses, and pray together.
- Talk about Jesus and His Word in the bedroom. Before we go to bed or get up in the morning are great times for reflection and contemplation. According to Kaak Panksepp, the father of effective neuroscience, nine minutes in the day hold the greatest influence on children. They’re the first three minutes in the morning when they wake up, the three minutes after they come home from school, and the three minutes right before they go to bed. Family ministry specialist Phil Bell says, “For the most part, children just seem to be more spiritually sensitive and a lot more open at bedtime.”
Family faith formation is deliberate.
“Tie them (the scriptures) as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates” Deuteronomy 6:8-9.
Devout Jewish people take this text literally – binding a phylactery around their heads and nailing a mezuzah to their doors. I don’t think God intended these verses to be necessarily applied this way. But He does want families to have practices and priorities that deliberately keep Jesus and His Word at the forefront of their everyday activities.
What are the practices and priorities in your home for impressing the Scriptures on your children? Catholic author Leif Kehrwald views family life as revolving around “ritual, routine, and rhythm.” Kehrwald’s view reminds us that a child’s faith formation requires a structured environment.
Creating a structured environment in the home is essential. If there’s disorder in the home, children are focused on survival. However, when there’s order in the house, children are more likely to reflect on their feelings and identity, critical factors in faith formation. So don’t compartmentalize faith formation from daily living. Create intentional moments, traditions and experiences that integrate Jesus and His Word into your family’s everyday lives.
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Summary
Family faith formation begins with parents equipping their children to love and follow Jesus, as highlighted in Deuteronomy 6:5-9. Parents must first internalize God’s Word, allowing it to shape their hearts, and then pass it on to their children daily. This ongoing process unfolds through simple, consistent moments, such as mealtimes, car rides, and bedtime reflections. To effectively nurture faith, families must create intentional, structured environments that prioritize Jesus and His teachings in their daily routines and rituals.
FAQ 1. What is family faith formation according to Deuteronomy 6?
Family faith formation is the intentional process of helping children love and follow God within everyday family life. Deuteronomy 6:5-9 teaches that parents are called to love God fully themselves and then pass that faith on by teaching and modelling His Word in daily living, conversations, and routines.
FAQ 2. Why does family faith formation start with parents?
The Bible emphasizes that God’s Word must first be “on your hearts” (Deuteronomy 6:6) before it can be passed on to children. Parents play the leading role in shaping faith, and authentic, lived-out love for God provides the foundation for children to develop a genuine relationship with Jesus.
FAQ 3. How can parents integrate faith into everyday family life?
Deuteronomy 6:7 encourages parents to talk about God’s Word throughout daily routines; at home, while travelling, and at bedtime. Simple practices like family meals, car conversations, prayer, and bedtime reflection create natural opportunities to teach children about Jesus and nurture spiritual growth.
FAQ 4. Is family faith formation meant to be structured or spontaneous?
It is both intentional and woven into everyday life. Deuteronomy 6:8-9 highlights the importance of deliberately keeping God’s Word central through routines, rhythms, and reminders. While faith conversations should happen naturally, families benefit from structured habits that consistently point children to Jesus.
© Scripture Union, 2025
