evaluate

1. Read the ideas and take some steps. Even if the step is to begin praying. This is the first and most important. Listen to what is on Father’s heart for your family.
2. Begin the journey of “Word for the Year” in the life of your family using the info in “Reflecting on the Future.” And if it is around Advent, go for the “Christmas Ornament” idea found in “Reflecting on the Past.” And when the weekend comes around, ask the 2 questions over dinner!!!! You can find these 2 questions in “Reflecting on the Here and Now.”
3. Share with us the ideas that are working in your family at info@thewholepeach.com!

When I was reading Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions and Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna, Father gave me this idea – a measurement tool for our families’ spiritual identity. I needed to know:

Who are my children becoming? How are they doing on the journey? How am I doing as their coach/parent? What is our spiritual identity?

Questions like these began to race around in my head, and I wondered. If we are not intentional about asking these questions and creating some way to answer these questions on a consistent basis, how will we know when to celebrate? The enemy wants to keep us cloudy, without goals and very busy. Our reflection and intentionality is dangerous to him. The enemy also wants us to believe that this is the responsibility of someone else – our child’s teachers or church leaders. This is not true – we are the parent given the incredible opportunity to disciple this next generation of spiritual champions. No other person will have a greater impact on the little people in your home than you. He has given the baton to you (Deuteronomy 6), and we want to encourage you that to run well, you must stop and evaluate the steps.

“If we are serious about preparing our children to become spiritual champions – not just church members or Bible owners, but individuals who live every moment of their lives for the cause of Christ and with a determination to be holy because God is holy- then we must incorporate some degree of assessment into the spiritual development processes that we introduce into kids’ lives.” George Barna in Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions

“What does God measure? Our hearts. He created us to love, serve and obey Him. So he studies the indicators of our devotion to Him. As parents, then, our job is to raise spiritual champions. That does not mean we are supposed to ignore the significance of developing our children’s intellectual, emotional, and physical dimensions. But it suggests that we have to see the bigger picture of God’s priorities and raise our children in light of His standards, not ours or society’s.” George Barna in Revolutionary Parenting

So, what are God’s standards?

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”Galatians 5:22-25

This is a good place to start. Fruit is a result of good soil, consistent watering, and appropriate tending. Therefore, the fruit listed in this letter is the result of what we will see if our children are advancing along the way. Barna has a great list in chapter 7 of Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions that also includes Exodus 20 – The Ten Commandments and Matthew 5-7 – The Sermon on the Mount.

His ideas really provoke me, and I look forward to developing this tool further. As of now, this is where we are, and this is what we do, and it has stuck for some years now. So much so, that we see our children beginning to lead the process. These 3 simple ideas help us “assess our family’s spiritual identity.”