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Field guide

After Sunday: Helping Parents Talk About Faith at Home

A parent who knows which passage the children read at church has somewhere to begin. One particular question, asked while walking home or waiting for dinner, can give a child room to think aloud.

Teaching and discipleshipBy Raymond PhilipNovember 2, 20264 min read
A father listens to his daughter as their Bible conversation continues from the church path to a table at home.
Room for a conversation to return.

Begin with something particular

“What did you learn at church?” asks a child to retrieve a whole morning. Parents can start with a detail: “You read about Zacchaeus. Why were people unhappy when Jesus went to his house?” Encourage them to listen before supplying an answer.

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 addresses Israel: love God, take his words to heart and teach children in ordinary life. Christian households can learn from that pattern. Planned reading and prayer have a place; so does a conversation that starts halfway through something else.

Family faith, as children reported it
Someone often reads the Bible or prays with me
51%
Family often discusses faith questions, doubts or worries
26%

Two separate questions. 2021 Australian NCLS Child Survey: 5,075 church attenders aged 8–14, across more than twenty denominations. Ask families which conversations they would welcome help with. NCLS Research

Separately, 59% of U.S. teens aged 13–17 said they talked about religion with family at least sometimes in Pew Research Center’s 2019 survey of 1,811 teens and one parent per teen. This broader question and population differ from NCLS’s.

Show parents how to read together

Suggest that families read Luke 19:1–10 together, aloud if that helps. A child’s interest in the tree or questions about the crowd can give the conversation a starting point.

Choose one question to pass on. Encourage parents to follow what their child notices.

Jesus stops and speaksWhat did Jesus do when he saw Zacchaeus?

Verses 5–6: Jesus addresses Zacchaeus and says he must stay at his house. Zacchaeus welcomes him joyfully.

The crowd objectsWhy were people unhappy about his visit?

The crowd objects in verse 7. Jesus’ answer comes in verses 9–10: salvation has come, and he came to seek and save the lost.

Zacchaeus speaksWhat does Zacchaeus say about giving and repayment?

In verse 8, Zacchaeus promises half his goods to the poor and fourfold repayment to anyone he has defrauded.

Keep Jesus’ initiative and saving mission central when you discuss the passage with parents. Zacchaeus’s generosity and restitution do not purchase salvation. The account gives room to discuss repentance and forgiveness without demanding that a child disclose wrongdoing on cue.

A short prayer to pass on can thank God that Jesus receives sinners and ask for help to put wrongs right. A child can keep thinking after the subject changes.

Send home what was taught

Send a passage reference, what the lesson helped children understand and one useful question. Parents who missed the session need that context. Adapt the note to what you actually taught.

Example take-home note

This Sunday we read Luke 19:1–10 and considered why Jesus came to seek and save the lost. At home, read the passage together and ask: why were people unhappy that Jesus went to Zacchaeus’s house? Let your child show you what they noticed. You could pray, thanking God that Jesus receives sinners and asking for help to put wrongs right.

Help parents return to the question

“I need to think about that.” Then come back to it.

Listening comes first: “Did that really happen?” may ask for evidence or name a worry. Luke records this as something that happened, introducing his Gospel as an orderly account in Luke 1:1–4. “I need to think about that” is an honest answer when a parent comes back to it. They can return to the passage and bring you questions.

Ephesians 6:4 charges fathers to bring children up in the Lord’s instruction without provoking them to anger. Talk about how this shapes ordinary conversations, including apologizing after speaking harshly.

Make room for the households you serve: grandparents, single parents, shared care, shift work, different languages and access needs. A child might listen, draw or point. Ask families whether the note made sense, and revise it when it did not.

Your encouragement can help families keep teaching and praying in dependence on God, making Scripture known and staying available for the next question.

Pastorly makes Sunday School and Youth lessons from Sunday’s sermon, so the whole week keeps to the same passage.

Sources

  1. NCLS: People of influence in children’s faith formation

    2021 survey of 5,075 Australian church attenders aged 8–14.

  2. Pew Research Center: Family religious practices

    2019 U.S. teen survey, published in 2020; family conversations about religion.

  3. Luke 1:1–4

    Luke’s orderly account, grounded in eyewitness testimony.

  4. Luke 19:1–10

    Jesus’ visit to Zacchaeus and his saving mission.

  5. Deuteronomy 6:4–9

    God’s words in Israel’s everyday household life.

  6. Ephesians 6:1–4

    Instruction and the warning addressed to fathers.