10 Key Bible Verses on Parenting
Children are a gift from the Lord, and he is faithful to grant wisdom and guidance to those who are called to shepherd those in their care.
Articles on Parenting
323 results found
10 Key Bible Verses on Children
Scripture is not silent on the value of children and how parents ought to regard and guide them in wisdom.
6 Passages to Read during Pregnancy
Turn to Scripture for hope and help when preparing for childbirth—the Lord is near!
8 Things to Remember When Teaching Kids Theology
Theology, taught well, must inevitably result in doxology—and we shouldn’t be satisfied with less just because we’re teaching children.
Your marriage is shaped by your commitment to say no. Your parenting is shaped by your willingness to say no. Your friendships are shaped by how often you say no.
7 Tips for Keeping Your Cool When Your Kids Misbehave
Jesus came to make it possible for all kinds of people, including angry parents, to be changed into people who yield their expectations to God in service to others, specifically their children.
6 Ideas for Thinking about Halloween with Your Kids
Consider these six ways parents can help think through what to do with Halloween biblically..
5 Ways Dads Can Encourage Their Daughters
By paying attention to the following five areas, you’ll give your daughter the solid head start she needs to grow into all that God has for her.
What Did Jesus Teach about Family?
David W. Jones, Andreas J. Köstenberger
Believers are called to seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, even when it brings them into conflict with natural family obligations.
10 Things You Should Know about Family Discipleship
In Jesus's call to make disciples everywhere and to teach his commandments entirely, we can be absolutely sure that this imperative includes those disciples we will make in our own homes.
How to Pray for Your Unborn Child
As dizzying as the pain we experience in raising children can be, we need to have the wherewithal to remember how it points us to God himself.
Help! My Kids Keep Talking Back
When you’re more concerned for your child than for their impact on you, then you’re in the right frame of mind to help them. How do you do that?
The Greatest Gift a Mom Can Give Her Daughter
Mother-daughter discipleship can have a crucial role in the growth and formation of a young girl. Hear why from Jacquelle Crow.
An Open Letter to the Parent of a Strong-Willed Child
Let us be careful about singling out the strong-willed child as though his will is more corrupt than ours.
Married Couples Shouldn't Obey Their Parents
Chad Van Dixhoorn, Emily Van Dixhoorn
There is no question that couples sometimes feel crowded, in the first place, because of their families of origin. As Ephesians 5 ends, Paul reminds us that married people are starting a family.
‘The Biggest Story’ Christmas Devotional with Printable Ornaments
Take a journey through the Bible this December with the help of stories from The Biggest Story Bible Storybook, and prepare your family for the birth of Jesus the Savior!
Parenting: A 14-Day Devotional
Learn 14 gospel-centered parenting principles from Paul David Tripp’s book, Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Familly.
Learn five things fathers can avoid when parenting their children from seasoned pastor R. Kent Hughes.
7 Important Lessons about Masculinity
Godly leadership doesn’t give us the right to lord our authority over others; it means that it is our glory to die first.
Parents, Your Kids Need Big Theology
Let them grow into understanding the big truths of Scripture by building a foundation that will shape and guide them as they learn and understand the big words and the big theology of the gospel.
Our value comes from God and he has good purposes for every role and circumstance he puts us in.
6 Ways Moms Can Show Love to Their Daughters
Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre
If we avail ourselves of Holy Scripture, we find the wisdom and direction we so desperately seek.
How (and How Not) to Talk with Your Kids about Sexuality
Andrew T. Walker, Christian Walker
Be assured that if you are not planning how and when to bring sexuality up in conversation, your children will learn about it elsewhere.
How to Pray for Your Child’s Salvation
We cannot force this faith. We labor for it, we teach to it, we encourage it, and above all, we can pray for it.
The Best Parenting Passage in the Entire Bible
Our children must learn to look at life through the lens of the will and plan of their Creator—to develop a comprehensive biblical worldview that is distinctively God-centered and biblically driven.
How to Pray for Your Teen’s Spiritual Growth
Here are seven specific bibliical prayers that I’m praying for my own (almost) teenager, and which I’d encourage you to pray for yours.
7 Questions That Teens Need to Answer
Teenagers are in one of the most exciting and most important times of their lives. Paul Tripp points to seven questions they will face that will influence the shape and direction of the rest of their lives.
An Open Letter to the Parent Who Has Lost a Child
As a parent whose child died four and a half years ago, I want to offer you two hopeful words about that wound in your heart that never will fully heal on this side of eternity.
10 Things You Should Know about Fatherhood
Fatherhood began in God, since he is our Father. Ultimate reality is not mechanical but relational, not physics but fatherhood.
How to Pray for Your Teenager’s Sexual Purity
Ultimately only the Lord can provide the help our teens need, which is why parents like me must pray for their teenager’s sexual purity.
10 Things You Should Know about Infertility
Infertility is a more common experience than some realize affecting 7–10% of couples.
4 Things Dads Should Teach Their Kids about Money
Your kids need more than practical tips for managing their money. They need theology.
Help! I Have Trouble Talking with My Adult Children
When we move from parenting a teen to mentoring our adult children, asking questions is the best and first approach to difficult conversations—far better than biting your tongue.
10 Things You Should Know about Motherhood
Motherhood is evidence that God is patient toward us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Why Your Child’s Misbehavior Shouldn’t Be Your Next Social Media Post
There’s nothing new about parents talking about their child’s misbehavior, but there are some underlying pitfalls that you should consider, especially as the internet magnifies them.
5 Reasons Churches Should Teach Theology to Children
A focus on reading and teaching Scripture to children does not—and must not—mean that we fail to educate them theologically as well.
Why Stay-at-Home Moms Don't Need to Be Embarrassed
God values all work that's done in his name and in service of others, so you don't need to be embarrassed about your at-home work.
A Father's Example of a Legacy Worth Leaving
The following is a letter Ray Ortlund's dad wrote several years before his death, which he left in his desk, where he knew his family would find it.
How to Pray when Preparing for Family Vacation
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Margaret Elizabeth Köstenberger
God knows you need rest, and wants you to get it, but we can honor him by submitting our plans to him so he can direct our steps—even in our vacation!
7 Back-to-School Prayers for Students
Students: as you head back to school, don't forget to prepare and recalibrate your hearts for the days ahead through intentional prayer.
20 Engaging Questions to Ask Kids at Church
As churches everywhere shake their heads in frustration over declining commitment among younger generations, we need to remember that a person’s commitment to the church is often formed early.
How to Stop Thinking about What People Think of You
Self-consciousness is really bondage to the question What do people think of me?
3 Ways to Surrender Your Will to Christ
God seems extremely concerned that we learn to submit ourselves to authority, especially to the one whose lordship demands obedience from the heart.
12 Bible Passages for Overwhelmed Fathers
A father’s world is filled with responsibilities and concerns, and the stress that can arise from helping to support a family can be overwhelming. But God offers all fathers wisdom and strength from his Word.
How to Pray for Your Kids This Summer
The clay is still soft, so ask God for sculpting opportunities in the lives of your young children.
Did Jesus Really Mean That We Should Hate Our Families? (Luke 14)
He is to have absolute rule and sovereignty over one’s life; no family relationship can take precedence over one’s commitment to Jesus.
5 Tips for Helping Your Teens Study the Bible
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see growth right away. It might take months and it might even take years, but keep being faithful to your calling as parents.
7 Tips for Teaching the Bible to Children
Teaching the Bible to children can be a great challenge, but, if done well, it will be deeply rewarding. By modeling your dedication for God’s Word, you can help children grow in their knowledge of and love for it.
Help—I Want to Be a Stay-at-Home Mom but Can't
Whether stay-at-home mom or career woman, where God has you now is his good design for you.
7 Tips for Celebrating Christmas as a Family
For a Christian family, Christmas is a significant annual opportunity to disciple as you celebrate the incarnation of Christ. Here are seven tips on how to do that well.
6 Truths about Parenting That Reorient Everything
Paul David Tripp draws six agenda-setting observations from Psalm 51 for our work as a parents.
Making the Most of the Holidays with Your Adult Children
It’s been estimated that one in four parents are estranged from at least one adult child. The sense of hopelessness mixed with guilt can leave parents feeling depressed and defeated.
The Gospel Is Good News for Mothers
What we say and write reveals what we place our hope in. Our words are the overflow of what is going on in our hearts.
4 Issues Your Children Are Facing That You Never Had To
Andrew T. Walker, Christian Walker
Parenting in today’s culture can seem like boating into uncharted waters. The good news is that though the culture may throw us new challenges, Scripture speaks a better word to anchor our parenting.
When we make a home for others, we are often doing small and unseen work humanly speaking, but the meaning behind the work is never small.
Your Best Parenting Is Done by Prayer
Elyse Fitzpatrick, Jessica Thompson
All Christian parents are missionaries. We are all on a mission from the Lord to announce the love of the Father to our children and to encourage them, as much as we can, to believe it.
An Open Letter to Parents Feeling Unequipped to Disciple Their Kids
God calls us to disciple our children into him—to walk with them into his kingdom and help them be conformed to the image of the one, true King.
You're Not God, So Get Some Rest Today
The work will never be finished this side of heaven, but it's a reminder for us to trust God for the work. We can stop what we're doing and trust him to establish the work of our hands.
What Memorizing Scripture Will Do for Your Kids
One of the neglected spiritual disciplines of our time is Scripture memorization. Rarely are churches, families, and individuals taking the time to learn by heart God’s Word.
5 Ways to Commune with Christ on a Busy Day
The crazy days will come. But with a little intentionality, and with a modest plan in place, you can learn to navigate these days, and even walk with greater dependence on God.
How Pregnancy and Labor Point Us to the Gospel
Realize that your motherhood is a challenge that proves God’s strength and sufficiency.
An Open Letter to the Overwhelmed Parent at Christmas
For the believer, the most important thing we can do this Christmas is not wrap another present, but open up our hearts and minds anew to the wonder of God coming to earth.
Podcast: Navigating Conflict in Marriage (Christopher Ash)
Christopher Ash shares biblical wisdom and practical advice for couples working through disagreements related to money, sex, and kids.
Help! I’m Still Single and It Feels Like Life Is Passing Me By
Life has not passed you by. It’s not going to. If you are in Christ, your life has only just begun.
Mary J. Moerbe, Gene Edward Veith Jr.
Scripture is clear that all earthly fatherhood finds its origin in our heavenly Father, but it also reveals more than that.
5 Things Your Wife Wishes You Knew (But Might Never Tell You)
At-home work differs from a typical 9-to-5 job, but that doesn't mean it isn't hard work.
Help! My Kids Don’t Like Going to Church
One of parents’ chief responsibilities is to train our children to be worshippers. And bringing our kids to church, whether they like it or not, is an essential act of discipleship.
6 Questions about Raising Daughters
As we continue to plant seeds of faith in our daughters, we must shape their understanding of what it means to grow in godliness.
As a stay-at-home mom, it can be really hard to think about balance in the work of the home because we don’t have a boss.
Your Kids Need You to Talk to Them
The Spirit makes godly conversations possible, and he expects you to give yourself to them because the people around you—your children—need them.
8 Important Dos and Don'ts of Discipline
The point of parenting is not to cultivate uniform perfection.
Help! I Don’t Know How to Teach My Kids the Bible
How do we sow in our children love for the word that has become a lifeline for us? How do we communicate in a way that prepares them for a life of faith and faithfulness?
The Difference Family Worship Makes
Having your family in a Christ-exalting, gospel-centered, Bible-teaching local church is crucial to Christian parenting—but it is not enough.
Win the Next Generation with Love
The evangelical church has spent far too much time trying to figure out cultural engagement and far too little time just trying to love. If we listen and are curious about people, we will be plenty engaged.
An Open Letter to Husbands on Mother’s Day
The fact that Mother’s Day may have secular origins does not mean that it can’t be used by Christian husbands to remind us of biblical principles related to our mothers and wives.
Are You Conveying the Loveliness of Christ to Your Kids?
Do our kids know the thing that will sustain and oxygenate them when other vital needs go unmet?
How to Pray When Your Kids Go Off to College
Not all parents can provide what they want for their children, but all parents can pray.
How Moms Can Model God’s Grace
One way to teach our children about our need for God’s grace in Christ is to appropriately confess our sin to them.
8 Real-Life Questions about Children and Discipline
You might feel overwhelmed by the amount of parenting advice that exists. Take a breath. Break the goal down into small steps, and take one step at a time.
6 Ways to Help Your Kids Love Reading the Bible
What could be more important than teaching your kids to read the Bible? What better habit would you want them to have?
Feminine Beauty and Masculine Strength
What do we say to our sons and daughters who ask, “Daddy and Mommy, what does it mean to be a man or a woman?” Tell them they are made in the image of God and for union with Christ.
The Importance of Enjoying Your Kids
To be in those high-demand years is a great blessing, so enjoy it. Enjoy your kids!
Full Audiobook: The Biggest Story by Kevin DeYoung
We are pleased to share the entire audio of The Biggest Story by Kevin DeYoung on The Crossway Podcast.
7 Tips for Teaching Theology to Teens
If you’re a pastor, youth leader, ministry volunteer, or simply a Christian parent of a Christian teenager, you’ve probably struggled with the best approach in talking with young people about theology.
An Open Letter to Daughters on Father’s Day
Our heavenly Father has good news for each and every one of us, as well as fatherly gifts in store.
5 Myths about Teaching Theology to Youth
Everyone is a theologian. The question for Christian parents, church members, and friends is: how do we help children be good theologians?
Help! My Kids Seem Uninterested in Family Worship
Do your kids try to avoid family worship? Do they find excuses not to be there? Do they obviously dread it and groan when you reach for the Bible?
Understanding Teen Anxiety and Depression
One of the best things we can do for our teens is to explain to them that many teens suffer in the same way.
Survival mode for the weary Christian is not hibernation from Christ but perseverance in Christ.
While motherhood is a desirable and godly calling, it also brings pain and heartache. But God is still good. He really is, no matter what. These are ten truths for moms like me to cling to on our difficult days.
An Open Letter to a Struggling Mom
Even while you and I experience the joys and bear the burdens of this glorious thing called motherhood, we remain—and always will remain—beloved daughters of our heavenly Father. Beloved is who we are.
Love the Neighbors Living in Your Own Home
Our neighbors are the people who are in closest proximity to us. They're not always in the house next to us or the homeless shelter across town. Often, they're sleeping in the next room over.
What Your To-Do List Can’t Accomplish
When your eyes are fixed on the horizon of eternity, it affects your vision for motherhood.
What Family Discipleship Is (and Is Not)
Put simply, family discipleship is leading your home by doing whatever you can whenever you can to help your family become friends and followers of Jesus Christ.
Teach Your Kids Their Identity before the World Does
What do you want to be when you grow up? Who are you? It’s one of the most fundamental questions of life. And the answer our culture has come up with is very far from the truth.
A Parent’s Guide to Talking with Kids about Technology
Andrew T. Walker, Christian Walker
All of life in the digital age is presenting us with a dizzying array of possibilities for where we spend our time, how we understand who we are, and how we perceive the world around us.
The One Thing That Makes Parenting Tough Today
Distraction is a huge issue for the modern Christian parent.
Podcast: Preparing Our Kids for a Post-Christian World (Rebecca McLaughlin)
Rebecca McLaughlin discusses what it looks like for parents to prepare their teens for a life in a post-Christian world, reflectong on kids' propensity to ask hard questions and why that's a good thing,
Don't Let the Culture Train Up Your Children in the Way They Should Go
We need to be intentional about catechizing our kids with what is truly good, truly beautiful, truly life-changing, and life-saving, and God-glorifying.
The value of our work doesn't depend on what compensation we receive or don't receive, but on the love we offer in service to our neighbor.
How (and How Not) to Implement Family Devotions
Pray for wisdom. Pray for your children. Pray that your time in the word and prayer will be fruitful and that God will bear the fruit of his Spirit in your family.
The Nature of a Woman's Nurture
In the midst of life's complexity, what does it mean for a woman to nurture?
How Husbands Can Protect Their Wives from Burnout
Sometimes, the men are having their day off, but the wives are still doing what they do every other day of the week.
Is Any Love Greater Than a Mother's Love?
Not even the love of a mother for her children can compare to the love of God.
Family Worship and the Day I Made My Daughter Cry
Many times after family worship, I wondered if anything good had been accomplished.
The Professionalization of the Home
With the work of the home being increasingly outsourced and professionalized, it can feel unglamorous. But the home isn't about compensation or perfection—it's about people.
What character is required so that we can be part of what God is seeking to do in the lives of our children and not in the way of it?
How to Help Your Teens Use Their Phones for Good
How can you help your teen wield their technology for good purposes, while avoiding the inherent dangers?
How do we teach our children to be discerning, both to recognize and to do right, but at the same time to show God’s love and care for the imperfect people around them?
3 Things Overwhelmed Students Need
“Teens” and “rest” don’t usually go together, do they? The teen years are busy years, restless years, hectic years.
“Mommy, Do You Like Being a Mom?”
Even if and when we talk about some of the harder parts of parenting, we want to do so in a way that affirms our love for our children and how much we value them.
God’s Grand Plan for Motherhood
God has created and equipped women to nurture the life he creates—both biological and spiritual.
Introducing a New Podcast for Families
Over the course of 26 episodes (each 3-5 minutes in length), listen to the grand story of the Bible as a family with this new podcast for families.
Read-Aloud Video: ‘Polly and the Screen Time Overload’
Watch a video and enjoy hearing this children's story about healthy boundaries with technology read aloud by its author.
8 Passages to Read about Parenting
Parenting requires all kinds of help, most helpfully from the God who created us. Find encouragement from Scripture for the task.
Why Teens Must Read the Bible for Themselves
Teenagers who are wondering if the Bible is relevant to their lives are often starting off on the wrong footing with Scripture.
Introducing ‘The Biggest Story Podcast’
Journey through God’s word as a family—from Genesis to Revelation—with The Biggest Story Podcast—a brand-new podcast from Crossway!
Babies cry for food, warmth, company, and love. They plead for our help. The cries of our precious little ones remind us that we’re not too different from them.
A Blueprint for Multigenerational Faithfulness
God has not left us to wander aimlessly in the wilderness as we raise our children. He has given us a blueprint for multigenerational faithfulness.
Fathers are called upon to choose not only between our children and our work, but between our convenience and the inconvenience of keeping a promise.
Not If but When: Reflections on 4 Different Kinds of Healing
At some point or other, every Christian with a disability is going to have to figure out how to think about physical healing. In our case, theological reflection on healing has been essential.
The Spiritually Dangerous Spiral of Complaint
You can’t complain about God’s provision without questioning his wisdom, goodness, faithfulness, and love.
Adoption and Spiritual Warfare
There seems to be an orphan-making urge among us, whether we see it in the slave culture of centuries past or the divorce culture of today. But where does it come from?
7 Tips for Young Adults to Improve Their Relationships with Their Parents
You can mitigate your frustrations with your parents. Here are seven tips that may help you have a better relationship.
How a Busy Mom Can Stay Consistent in the Word
Here are some steps you can take to stay consistent in the Word.
Podcast: Help! My Teen Is Struggling with Anxiety and Depression (David Murray)
Why is teen anxiety and depression on the rise, and what can parents do to help their children who are struggling?
The Rightful Risks of Motherhood
Remembering and embracing Christ’s death means an end to helicopter mothering ourselves and the people around us.
How to Maintain Everyday Faithfulness in Festive Times
God has equipped us to follow Christ faithfully no matter what season of life we’re living.
Martin Luther, the Loving Father
When it came to the rearing of children, Luther had plenty of advice.
You and Your Toddler Teach One Another Theology
There is no distinction between the sacred and the secular; everything belongs to the Lord and is under his reign.
Podcast: How to Create a Plan for Family Worship (David Murray)
Why and how should we implement a routine of family worship? What are the reasons it's hard for families to remain consistent and see fruit?
Why You Should Teach Your Kids about the Reformation
The Reformers so clearly point us back to Christ, and point us to Scripture.
The Unresolved “Why” of Suffering
When tragedy strikes, almost everyone who believes in God, along with almost everyone who claims they don’t, asks the same question: Why does God allow suffering?
Help! I Don’t Know How to Answer My Kid’s Tough Questions
Rather than seeing our cultural challenges today only as obstacles for our kids, I’m increasingly convinced they’re opportunities to do three important things.
Devon Provencher, Jessica Robyn Provencher
How can we avoid unintentionally communicating to our littles untrue things about God?
Podcast: Family Discipleship 101 (Adam Griffin)
What is family discipleship, and how can parents start discipling their kids?
5 Things Your Children Need from You
Parenting is not a behavior-control mission; it is a heart-rescue mission. The only hope for a lost child is a radical transformation of his heart.
4 Questions about Leading Family Devotions
It is critically important to give our lives in the service of leading our children to be followers and friends of Jesus.
How to Help Your Kids Love the Bible
As parents and caregivers, we want our children to know the God revealed in the Bible and come to love his word deeply, just as we have.
Why Every Parent Should Embrace Their Inability
It is vital that you believe and admit that you have no power whatsoever to change your child.
Modeling Our Faith to Our Kids as Both a Sinner and a Saint
Two key components are essential for family discipleship through Christian modeling. A godly role model needs to be reliable and relatable.
How to Honor the Lord with Your Summer Vacation
When you take your vacation time, how do you reflect your priorities and honor the Lord?
It’s at the cross that we lay down our indifference and our fears about the work set before us in shepherding eternal souls in favor of full investment and commitment to the job.
The 5th Commandment Is for Adults Too
The fifth commandment is found in the middle of a list of commands clearly addressed to adults, targeting issues that are, developmentally speaking, primarily the concerns of adulthood.
How and When Kids Learn Theology
Kids really learn theology when it moves from being information in their heads to truth in their lives.
5 Myths about Children’s Ministry
Children’s ministry shouldn’t merely be about teaching Christian character and morality to the younger generation. No, it’s an incredible opportunity to help kids see Christ!
Guiding Children to Adulthood: What Does Success Look Like?
With grown or nearly grown adult children, it can be easy to despair and think it is too late to improve or repair our relationship with our kids. But is anything too difficult for God?
Practical Faithfulness in the Throes of Motherhood
Know that God’s mercy abounds every morning, and his grace covers you. The Lord loves you, he is working toward your spiritual growth, and he is not done sanctifying you.
What Does It Mean for a Man to Lead His Home?
A father who understands the Bible, loves the Lord, and has surrendered his life to Christ should not apologize for being the head of the house.
44 Activities for Kids That Don't Involve Screens
Most Christian parents would like their children to spend less time in front of a screen. Since ideas can be hard to come up with in the moment, here’s a list of 44 activities that don’t involve screens.
Start Early: Teaching Your Kids the 10 Commandments
There have been three items that have formed the backbone of the church’s catechesis: the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments.
An Open Letter to the Church on the Issue of Infertility
Recognizing that many couples in your church community are infertile will invariably change the way you think about your community.
When human beings are delivered through pregnancy and birth pain, there is more going on than biological processes and physiological mechanics.
The world tells mothers that they can do it all and have it all, but that they need not give their all.
4 Essential Things to Remember When Disciplining Your Children
What are we trying to do in disciplining children? We are not just trying to avoid all annoyances. There’s an aim here and it's a glorious one.
The Problem with Child-Directed Parenting
Young children cannot “lead” parents to a Jesus they do not know, but parents can lead a child to a Jesus the parents know and love.
A Word to Parents at Their Breaking Point
It can be helpful to manage your expectations of what normal life can and should be, and recognize that the season you’re in is intensely difficult in a particular way and that it won’t always be that way.
Coming Soon: ‘The Biggest Story Curriculum’
Releasing in June, The Biggest Story Curriculum will incorporate a host of integrated print and digital components to teach kids key Bible stories from Genesis to Revelation.
9 Principles for Navigating Anxiety and Depression with Your Teen
What are the general principles to bear in mind as you begin to work with your teen through anxiety and depression?
3 Battles Your Teen Faces Every Day
Teens must stand up against the untruths they hear from culture and from within themselves.
A Story of Grace in the Face of Infertility
Read the personal story of a couple who experienced infertility for a period long enough to know the pressures, anxieties, absences, and losses that so commonly define the experience.
How to Make Time for Your Family as a Pastor
Even the busiest pastors can make it a priority and count it a privilege to spend quality time with their families.
Help! My Teenager Won’t Open Up to Me
Now, as a parent of a teenager, it’s easy to feel locked out. It is painful to stand on the wrong side of the door of your son or daughter’s heart as though they’ve changed the locks.
What Ecclesiastes Taught Me about Being a Mom
We all hit moments when life shatters our expectations of motherhood. My “moment” came early on, but sooner or later it happens to all of us.
How to Balance Being a Husband and a Father
God is willing to give wisdom to every young dad for both being a father and a husband.
Help! I Don’t Know How to Help My Kids Focus on Christ this Season
To see the goodness of God most clearly—to focus on Christ during Christmas—your children will need to see you enthralled by him and captured by him.
How Can I Teach My Kids to Help at Home?
We want to raise our children to see themselves as contributors to society, and whether they work inside the home or work outside the home, we want them to see that work is not about pay, it's about contribution.
Children are not naturally obedient. The problem lies in the opposite direction. The little fellows are sinners—and sin hardens.
9 Ways to Pass on Your Faith through Family Milestones
Your faith is your children’s best possible inheritance. Pass it on to them as often and thoroughly as you can.
Be Careful, Your Kids Are Emulating Your Works Righteousness
Salvation comes to undeserving, dead sinners as a free gift of God, not by anything we do. Yet the heart’s tendency toward works righteousness—thinking we can earn our salvation—runs deep.
The Secret of Contentment in Motherhood
No matter how much mom life does or doesn’t look the way you imagined it would, you too can learn the secret of contentment. It might seem like a lofty goal, but it isn’t an unattainable one.
Motherhood Isn’t What I Expected
Motherhood isn’t what I expected. It hasn’t delivered all that I hoped it would, and instead it’s given me some things I never asked for. What about you?
What Motherhood Teaches Us about Womanhood
In light of Paul’s and the Bible’s teaching on motherhood, what is the significance of women being mothers?
Podcast: Thinking Biblically about Transgenderism (Denny Burk)
How should Christians think about transgenderism, and how should we talk to our kids about it? What does the Bible teach on gender and sexuality?
Answering Kids’ Hardest Questions: Will God Always Keep Me Safe?
As a parent, we’re often trying to help our kids overcome fears that they might be encountering in their lives. But we have to remember that God never promises bad things won't happen to us.
Podcast: If You Don’t Catechize Your Kids, the World Will (Kevin DeYoung)
Kevin DeYoung talks about how Christians (parents and non-parents alike) can help children to trust Jesus, embrace the Bible, and love others—even those with whom we disagree.
What Parents Can Learn from Children’s Books
In many respects, and certainly in spiritual matters, we are all weak and inadequate, and we need to face it.
How can we raise kids to recognize with heartfelt gratitude that they are served by an endless conveyor belt of divinely supplied benefits including life, breath, and everything?
How Stories Teach Kids about Sin
The calling to raise children to love God and hate sin is daunting, and Christian parents should avail themselves of all the help they can get.
How Rumination Falls Short of Meditation
Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Mahaney Whitacre
When we fix our attention on God’s standard we will begin to feel peace and hope.
5 Reasons to Prioritize Family Worship
Just about everyone I know feels overwhelmed, and most are busier than they’ve ever been, especially if they have children at home.
Parents, Your Children Were Never Intended to Give You Identity
If you are not resting in your vertical identity, you will look horizontally, searching to find yourself and your reason for living in something in the creation
6 Ways Parents of Estranged Adult Children Can Find Help at Church
Despite the struggles of parents experiencing pain in their relationships with their adult children, there is help for parents through the local church.
The Mission Field I Never Expected
For those of us who are parents, God wants us to esteem the field he’s given us. It’s not a tiring distraction from the true mission field we should be tilling.
Introducing Unfolding Grace for Kids
In Unfolding Grace for Kids, children ages 8–12 are invited on a guided journey through 40 select Scripture readings to uncover the unifying message of God’s Word.
When It's Time to Get in the Van and No One's Ready
God always intends his words with his children to restore relationship with himself. And when that’s been your experience, you long to pass it on to others.
My Child’s Wandering Heart and My Father’s Never-Ending Love
If you’re a parent, you’ve likely seen that natural tendency in your children to wander (or run!) from what God says is best—even if the nature of it looks different with each child.
The following prayers are from The Primer (1652) by John Owen and can be used to give children a framework for talking to the Lord in prayer.
A Sufferer’s Great Resource in Tragedy
In the early days, the pain and sorrow of losing my son were so intense that I could not focus on anything beyond daily survival. But hope prevailed.
4 Things at Stake When Your Children Don’t Obey
What’s at stake in practicing correction is probably better gauged by understanding what happens when correction doesn’t get practiced very well.
5 Tips for Being a Faithful (and Not Just Busy) Mom
Only God is God, so only God gets his to-do list done at the end of the day.
Answering Kids’ Hardest Questions: Does God Love Everyone the Same?
God hates the sin that’s in us, but he sent his son Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins so that we can have a relationship with him.
What We Think We're Entitled to in the 21st Century
We realized just how much we had assumed we would have, how many things we believed were almost rights of ours.
Podcast: Why Every Christian Should Care about Adoption (Russell Moore)
Russell Moore shares his own family’s adoption journey, explaining why adoption is important for all Christians—even those who never actually adopt.
Podcast: Faith, Family, and the Creative Life (Ruth Chou Simons)
Ruth Chou Simons discusses her life as an artist, sharing her passion for creating beautiful pieces of art that reflect the beauty of our Creator.
What to Do with Mom Guilt on Mother's Day
If you struggle with guilt over your parenting, consider that God does not require perfection from you.
How Fathers Help Roll Back the Curse
Joseph’s fatherhood is significant for us precisely because of the way the gospel anchors it to the fatherhood of God himself.
Help! My Sunday Mornings Are Chaotic
You have the opportunity of passing on to your children a deep love for Sunday mornings. Children learn to love what their parents love.
Podcast: How to Intentionally Disciple Your Kids (Lindsey Carlson)
Lindsey Carlson discusses what it looks like for parents to thoughtfully disciple teenagers during a pivotal point in their lives.
Parents, Don’t Miss God’s Plan for the Mundane
God is a personal God, and you have the chance to continually reintroduce your family to him while praising him for who he is and what he’s done.
A Compelling Reason to Have Kids
One of the reasons our children are given as a heritage from the Lord is so that we can know and love our heavenly Father more and more.
Husbands, It’s Time to Start Leading Family Worship
The worthiness of God to receive your family’s worship each day is reason enough to start practicing family worship today.
3 Pieces of Advice for Teens about to Start High School
In the long run, your friends have an enormous influence on you, so you need the right kinds of friends.
Never Forget: You Need What Your Kids Need
It’s helpful for our kids to hear that they’re not alone in their struggles and that you're not perfect either—but Jesus is.
Jesus is king. Jesus obeys. How do we hold those two truths together? And what does it teach us about any authority we’ve been personally given?
Teaching Your Kids Gratitude in the Media Age
Media doesn’t create a sense of entitlement—a sense of “I deserve”—but it fuels that belief by holding in front of our eyes what others have and do.
A Narrative of Hope in the Darkness of Tragedy
The sovereignty of God is not some debatable proposition; it is the assurance that your child’s death is not a meaningless accident.
How to Turn Weeping into Witnessing
We can’t jump straight to It’s alright. God will be good. We can be sure he will, but that’s probably not where we should start.
11 Notable Quotes from Parenting
As caregivers, parents act as ambassadors of God’s love and care to their children.
Introducing a Bible Study Resource for Kids
Learn more about this resource designed to lead children ages 6–12 to a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.
7 Tips for Pastoring Your Children
If you’re a pastor and a father, you already know how hard each is, and how much harder the two in tandem can be.
Why God’s Promises Are Important for Kids Too
The struggles and complexities of life teach us through the years that we must rely on our heavenly Father. How are God’s promises also for our little ones?
How to Show Your Kids Grace This Christmas
In this season, the very message we have staked our lives on gets obscured by the message of the world.
What Does Covenant Theology Teach Us about Living in a Family?
Human life usually begins in families. Whether families are stable or unstable, helpful or harmful, family connections shape who we are.
As fathers, it’s important to remember that the gospel is eschatological—it is our hope not merely in this age, but also in the age to come.
An Implicit Biblical Command for Families
Don’t let perfection become the enemy of progress. Keep a regular time of family worship and encourage your kids to explore the Bible together with you.
Help! My Teen Struggles with Self-Image
From its beginning, the self-esteem movement has been crushing. And the movement hasn’t dissipated over the last generation or two, it has only intensified.
Answering Kids’ Hardest Questions: If God Speaks to Me, Why Can’t I Hear Him?
No, we can’t hear God audibly, but we can hear him speak in the sense that he has written his thoughts down for us to read and to hear in his word.
Help! I’m Supposed to Be the Perfect Child, Student, and Christian
We live in a culture of impossible expectations. Teens are under incredible pressure to succeed on a number of fronts. All these impossible expectations lead to an inevitable sense of failure and shame.
11 Notable Quotes from Missional Motherhood
There is eternal value in even the most mundane moments if the Great Commission informs how we’re thinking about all of life, including what it means to be a mom.
Motherhood Is for the Faint of Heart
You may have read on a greeting card somewhere that motherhood is not for the faint of heart. Don't believe it.
It's easy to idolize both the "super mom" identity and the "messy mom" identity—instead, let faithfulness and service be your standard.
5 Tips for Teaching Your Kids about Church History
Learning about church history can be exciting, uplifting and often funny. But if taught badly, it can also be turgid, pedestrian and dull.
Why You Should Disciple Your Child during the Teen Years
We are so used to training up our children when they’re very young, but it's just as important when they hit the pivotal growth point of the early teen years.
Try a simple experiment. Take a small child on your knee. Respect him. Do not see him as something to prune, form, or mold.
Play-Doh, Flannelgraphs, and Teaching Kids Biblical Theology
When we teach the stories of the Bible without helping them connect those stories, we’re giving them puzzle pieces only without the context of the larger picture.
Read-Aloud Video: ‘Lucy and the Saturday Surprise’
Watch a video and enjoy hearing this children's story about the dangers of envy and joy of contentment read aloud by its author Melissa Kruger.
A Parent’s Guide to Talking with Kids about Political Engagement
Andrew T. Walker, Christian Walker
Andrew and Christian Walker talk through some basic biblical, theological, and philosophical principles related to political engagement that every Christian parent should know.
Answering Kids’ Hardest Questions: Does God Love Me More When I Obey My Mom and Dad?
Because we’re not God, our anger is imperfect anger at times, even sinful. But it doesn’t change our love for our kids.
Podcast: Using Stories to Help Kids Understand Right and Wrong (Betsy Childs Howard)
Why are stories such powerful tools for instilling deep, biblical truths in our kids? Are moral formation and the gospel of grace mutually exclusive?
Use these Christmas crafts to help explain the truths of the Christmas story to children in your church or family.
Read-Aloud Video: ‘Meg Is Not Alone’
Watch a video and enjoy hearing this children's story read aloud by its author about the importance and blessing of the local church.
Why Parenting Is One of the Most Significant Callings
Nothing is more important in your life than being one of God’s tools to form a human soul.
3 Ways Youth Leaders Can Help Parents
Many youth pastors are young, but they still have valuable insights on teenagers that can be of great help to parents.
Answering Kids’ Hardest Questions: How Can God Hear Everyone’s Prayers at the Same Time?
Our kids can know that when they’re in their dark rooms and they’re feeling alone, God is with them. He hears their prayer when they’re at school, feeling nervous, feeling sad.
Favorite Christmas Traditions from Crossway Kids’ Book Authors
Read what the authors of Crossway kids' books had to say about their favorite Christmas traditions, and perhaps even find inspiration to incorporate new traditions into your own celebrations this year.
10 Things You Should Know about Family Discipleship
In Jesus's call to make disciples everywhere and to teach his commandments entirely, we can be absolutely sure that this imperative includes those disciples we will make in our own homes.
Gospel-Centered Help for Fathers
Leading your family well can become a daunting task, particularly if you misunderstand the role of fatherhood as God intended it.
Why It’s Surprisingly Easy to Reward Disobedience
Reward the behaviors you want and don’t reward the behaviors you don’t want.
How the Gospel Speaks to Motherhood
The gospel has a practical effect on every aspect of life, including the way you raise and shepherd your children.
Mary J. Moerbe, Gene Edward Veith Jr.
God joins together the family to share the work of providing daily bread, protection, guidance, and instruction.
How a Pastor Can Prioritize Family during the Holidays
For those of us in ministry, Sunday is not a day of rest. We should try to ensure that we have a Sabbath rest so the family can refresh itself.
The Key to Understanding Why Parenting Is Hard
The Bible is incredibly helpful in leading us to understand why parenting is so challenging.
Help! My Kids Don’t Like to Read
What are some major obstacles that prevent children from enjoying reading? Here are some practical suggestions for helping to instill a love of books.
Human Obedience VS. Passive Righteousness
Elyse Fitzpatrick, Jessica Thompson
What's the difference between human obedience and passive righteousness? And how does this affect the way we train our kids?
While self-awareness is a natural side effect of maturity, God-awareness is a supernatural gift of grace.
How Motherhood Mimics the Cross
God gives us gifts and abilities; then he gives us children. And perhaps it seems he’s made an error when our gifts and abilities seem completely irrelevant to the job of bringing up children and caring for a home.
How At-Home Work Is for Everyone
The work of the home and service of others involves the whole family.
When it comes to family discipleship, low-hanging fruit is everywhere. Family discipleship does not have to be intricate or complicated.
Show My Child Grace, or Lay Down the Law?
I know my children need the awareness of God’s law, they also need the self-awareness that law gives them.
Loving God with or without Children
Whether married or unmarried, whether parents or childless, each of us is called to love the God and Father of Jesus.
Exploring the Bible: A One-Year Reading Plan
The Bible can be rather intimidating to young readers (and old ones alike) and it can be immeasurably helpful to have a little guidance when independently working through the Scriptures.
Although we cannot bequeath God to our children, we can help them know him and understand him in ways that prepare them to believe in his name.
How to Effectively Bring the Gospel into Your Parenting
Using shame to discourage children's sin isn't what they need—they need forgiveness and acceptance.
How to Host a Summer Bible Club
A home-based club that can and has been literally life-giving are children’s Bible clubs.
How Often Do You Examine Your Fruit?
Examine your life. Is there fruit? How would you describe your growth in godliness?
Podcast: How Do I Discipline My Kids without Shaming Them? (Heather Nelson)
Heather Nelson talks about what it looks like to pursue shame-free parenting so that we might have joy-filled homes.
Why You Should Enroll in Wisdom University
The primary reason people drop out of Wisdom University is peer pressure—the influence of others in the same social group or age group.
Reaching the Next Generation Is Easier and Harder Than You Think
Sometimes we fear or we feel this burden that if we’re going to be effective as pastors, Christians, or parents that we need to have this cultural expertise.
Making Disciples Like a Soldier, Athlete, Farmer . . . Mom
Your prayer-full, hope-filled work of evangelism and discipleship—done through the strengthening grace of Jesus—gives him praise that echoes in eternity.
How to Get the Strength You Need to Be a Mom
Mothering is a calling for all women. Every Christian woman is called to the spiritual motherhood of making disciples of all nations. Our nurturing is, by nature, missional.
Dads, Remember the Power of the Open Book
Children who are able to read will benefit from being with their parents in worship, and it is the duty of husbands and fathers to make sure that their families hear God’s word both in private and in public.
How Work in the Home Reflects God
As Christians serve and care for those around them, they are acting as God's hands and feet in the world.
Podcast: Teaching Your Kids the Real Meaning of Christmas (William Smith)
William Smith offers parents simple advice for viewing the holiday season as a special opportunity to point our kids’ hearts to their Savior.
Should I Try to Be My Child's Friend?
Your child should know without a doubt that you deeply love them, even on their worst day.
Why Motherhood Is Only for the Faint of Heart
It is often stated that “motherhood is not for the faint of heart!” But in reality, that’s not entirely true—because motherhood is only for the faint of heart.
How Parenting Kids with Special Needs Shifts Your Reality
In a sense, our story was really one of reconsidering every aspect of our lives.
The Wilderness Offers Us New Sight
When we walk through any season of wilderness, the greatest danger is not the scorching heat of the trial; it is that we would be blind to the God who sees us.
Inspiration for At-Home Schooling
Life includes not only living experiences, but also the best that mankind has produced in art, books, music, ideas, and many more areas.
How to Spend Your Time Waiting for an Adopted Child
God has designed the universe so that anticipation is built into the order of things.
Help! My Teen Is Struggling with Anxiety
Go to God and ask him to lead you into more understanding of the various factors involved in your child’s suffering: physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, and social.
Surprising Peace After My Son's Surprise Birth
Redeeming love has purchased for us this blessed assurance: that Christ has regarded our helpless estate and has shed his own blood for our soul.
How to Cultivate a Culture of Adoption
When we adopt—and when we encourage a culture of adoption in our churches and communities—we’re picturing something that’s true about our God.
Raising Children in a Post-Christian, Anti-Family Society
Voddie Baucham shares what parents have been saying about his book, Family Driven Faith.
Help Wanted: Looking for Someone to Make My Kids Love the Bible
What can we do to make it easier for our kids to love God’s Word, instead of merely forcing it on them?
The Law, the Gospel, & Parenting
Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson were recently interviewed by the BCC (Biblical Counseling Coalition) for their new book, Give Them Grace.
Why Your Parents' Limitations Aren’t Limiting
Limits force you to come to grips with both your humanity and your sin nature by showing you that you are not God, but you sure want to be.
Podcast: What Your Teenager Needs Most (Paul Tripp)
Paul Tripp offers practical advice and encouragement to parents seeking to raise their teenagers to know God and feel ready to go into the world.
Podcast: How to Do Family Worship During the Holidays (Don Whitney)
How can you help your family not lose sight of God and the gospel during the holidays and build in a rhythm of regularly worshiping him together?
Parents: Expect Your Kids to Make Mistakes
When you don't know what to say (or you're tired of repeating yourself), remember that this is normal, but God is exceptional.
Because of Christ we can rejoice in hope, and there is no place for anxiety in the city that is to come.
Video: Jani Ortlund on Staying in the Word as a Young Mom
In this video, Jani Ortlund offers some advice for staying motivated to read God's Word and making time for Bible study as a young mom.
A Parent’s Role in Teen Anxiety
If your teen experiences anxiety or depression, it’s very common for you to feel that you’ve failed or you’ve done something wrong. So what do we do with these feelings and thoughts?
Calling In this first video, Paul David Tripp shares how important it is to keep in view the big picture of parenting amidst the press of life. What in life is more important than being …
An Interview with Gloria Furman (Part 2)
(Part 2) Gloria Furman talks with Crossway about motherhood.
The Top Two Ways Dads Can Love Their Kids
As we approach another Father’s Day, Timothy Witmer asks us to reflect with him on the top two ways we can love our children.
Pregnancy and the Gospel: A 5-Day Devotional
In this devotional, Gloria Furman brings Scriptural light on the topics of pregnancy, child-birth, and motherhood.
An Interview with Gloria Furman (Part 1)
(Part 1) Gloria Furman talks with Crossway about motherhood.
How to Be Most Safe and Most Strong
The gospel works in all of Scripture to teaches us that our primary goal is to enable God’s people to love him more.
Finding out your children have special needs is kind of like being given an orange.
Podcast: I Want to Disciple My Kids but Don't Know Where to Start (Jared Kennedy)
Jared Kennedy talks about what it means to disciple your children and about the long-term impact that investment can have.
there lived a man and a woman. They were the happiest people on the planet. True, they were the only people on the planet, but they were still terrifically happy.
Podcast: Answering Your Questions about Parenting Adult Children (Gaye Clark)
Gaye Clark answers several listener-submitted questions about how we should handle the difficult dynamic of cultivating a relationship with our adult children.
Declaring a Cease-Fire to the Mommy Wars
The value of your work comes from service to the Lord, not from a job title, a mother-of-the-year award, or apaycheck.
Podcast: Parents, Your Kids Will Love What You Love—So Love the Bible (William Osborne)
Rusty Osborne explains how he has sought to model a genuine love for God in front of his kids, and he offers advice on how to answer your kids when they say things like “the Bible is boring.”
Podcast: Answering Tough Questions about Raising Teenagers (Jon Nielson)
Jon Nielson discusses some of the most common questions that parents of teens often ask him as a pastor—questions about depression, sexuality, and when a teen should be allowed to get a phone.
What Family Worship Is (and Is Not)
Put simply, family discipleship is leading your home by doing whatever you can whenever you can to help your family become friends and followers of Jesus Christ.
Caring for a Loved One with Cancer: Don't Forget About the Kids
Perhaps the greatest gift you can give to a parent struggling with a serious illness is choosing to focus on the children.
Podcast: Your Kids Are Already Theologians, So Give Them Good Theology (Kristen Wetherell)
Kristen Wetherell gives practical advice for teaching our children about important doctrines and offers encouragement to parents facing questions about theology that they're not sure how to answer.
Law In this video, Paul David Tripp offers a vital insight: we can't ask the law to do what only grace can accomplish. While the law is indispensable, it does not have the power to …
Grace In this video, Paul David Tripp explains the reality that God never calls us to our role as parents without giving us everything we need to accomplish the task. Our needs meet his all-sufficient …
Andrew and Christian Walker reflect on the importance of proactively talking with our kids about important topics even when it feels difficult or awkward.
Identity In this video, Paul David Tripp explains our need as parents to rest in the identity we've been given in Christ, rather than trying to find identity in our children. About the Book What …
‘The Long Road Home’ for Kids Who “Wander”
The narrative of Luke 15 and its characters show us our naturally rebellious hearts, our pride, selfishness, sinfulness, and our desire to be known and loved.
Inability In this video, Paul David Tripp shares that recognizing what we are unable to do is essential to good parenting. We can rest in the fact that it is God who ultimately changes the …
Authority In this video, Paul David Tripp articulates one of the foundational aspects of parent-child relationships—authority—showing that parental authority is intended to be a representation of God's authority. About the Book What is your calling …
Watch the Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full Trailer
In Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full: Gospel Meditations for Busy Moms, Gloria Furman, a pastor's wife and mother of four, shows us how to pursue a vibrant and ever-growing relationship with Christ in the midst of the busyness of life.
Rest In this video, Paul David Trip teaches that parents can rest in the truth that God is in them, with them, and for them—they are never alone in their task. About the Book What …
Being a disciple maker means that the gospel is our one, main message.
Process In this video, Paul David Tripp shares the truth that change is a process, not an event. Therefore, parenting is a life-long process that is best understood as an ongoing conversation with our children. …
Lost In this video, Paul David Tripp shows that as a parent, you're not just dealing with bad behavior. You're dealing with a condition that causes bad behavior. Children are in need of nothing less …
Mercy In this video, Paul David Tripp shows that no parent gives mercy better than the one who realizes that he desperately needs it himself. About the Book What is your calling as a parent? …
False Gods In this video, Paul David Tripp answers three important questions—questions that parents often ask—through the lens of the reality that parents are only ever parenting worshipers. About the Book What is your calling …
Foolishness In this video, Paul David Tripp explains why the foolishness inside your children is much more dangerous to them than the temptations outside of them. About the Book What is your calling as a …
Character In this video, Paul David Tripp offers the important insight that not every wrong thing your child does is a direct rebellion to authority. Much of that wrong is a result of the need …
When it comes to family discipleship, low-hanging fruit is everywhere. Family discipleship does not have to be intricate or complicated.
Control In this video, Paul David Tripp unpacks the idea that biblical parenting is not about controlling a child's behavior, but about heart and life change. About the Book What is your calling as a …
Parenting with Paul David Tripp
Day 1: Calling Day 2: Grace Day 3: Law Day 4: Inability Day 5: Identity Day 6: Process Day 7: Lost Day 8: Authority Day 9: Foolishness Day 10: Character Day 11: False Gods Day …
Podcast: Family Discipleship 101 (Adam Griffin)
What is family discipleship, and how can parents start discipling their kids?
Grace for the Mommy Wars and Law of Parenting
Just as fallen human beings cannot fully satisfy God’s law, parents find they cannot fully satisfy whatever law of child raising they embrace.
Help! My Teen Struggles with Self-Image
From its beginning, the self-esteem movement has been crushing. And the movement hasn’t dissipated over the last generation or two, it has only intensified.
Podcast: When Your Kid Needs a Friend (Trillia Newbell)
Trillia Newbell unpacks how God has designed all of us for friendship—both with one another and even more importantly, with himself.
Podcast: Teach Your Kids About Their Anchored Identity (Christina Fox)
Christina Fox talks about kids’ need for a strong sense of identity that is rooted in an understanding of God as our creator, sustainer, and redeemer.