Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash.
Once upon a time, parents took their children to church and assumed that the programming there provided everything their children needed for growth in godliness. It was an understandable, but not altogether good, assumption. Corporate worship is an essential part of Christian discipleship, but children must also see how the Christian faith makes a difference in family life and day-to-day living.
Research shows that parents are the most significant influencers when it comes to the faith of children and teens. Therefore, PCA Discipleship Ministries (CDM) has released new resources in 2023 to help families prioritize worship and discipleship within the home.
From proposal to publication, Marlys Roos, CDM’s publications coordinator, manages all the details for many of CDM’s projects, so she has invested her heart into every work.
One new resource for family discipleship is a multi-level study of the names of God written by Michael and Rachel Craddock. In 2022 the Craddocks wrote “Knowing His Great Name” as an adult Bible study focusing on 12 names of God. CDM recently released “Knowing His Great Name Student Edition” for middle and high school students. Rachel Craddock’s “His Name is Great” takes some of the same material and aims it at children ages 4 and up.
With the three formats, families can study the names of God together, Roos says.
To help parents initiate meaningful discussions with children CDM has released “Road Talk” by John Kwasny. In the moments together when kids might be staring out the window or at their devices, “Road Talk” offers a short passage from an epistle and five questions for parents and children to discuss together.
The book is the first of several volumes CDM is developing around the commands from Deuteronomy 6:7, “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
In June CDM published “Praying with Paul: Using the Apostle’s Prayers to Guide Our Own” by PCA pastor James Simoneau. The devotional teaches readers to meditate on a short passage of Scripture and pray it back to God.
In her work preparing Simoneau’s book for publication, Roos read it as many as 10 times, and learned something new each time. “The prayers in it are so genuine and such a good example of using the Scriptures to guide our prayers,” Roos says.
In July CDM released “What a Royal Mess: A Study of 1 and 2 Kings” by Susan Tyner. The study is designed for small groups of women to work through together with accompanying video material from CDM. The study works in large or small groups and as an individual study.
As a co-sponsor of Liturgy Collective with Covenant Presbyterian in Nashville, CDM is also developing worship resources for churches. One of these resources is the Tenebrae Lux series written by Lisa Wallover. Each of the Good Friday services contains Scripture, song, and stories of people who were touched by Christ. The first work in the series was based on Christ’s seven final statements; forthcoming titles will examine the Lord’s prayer passage from Luke and the Beatitudes passage in Matthew. Lisa and her husband, retired PCA pastor David Wallover, are also developing Bible studies to accompany the Tenebrae services.
CDM’s resources reach beyond families and churches into communities, too. Working with Mission to North America’s ESL ministry, CDM is finishing its first ESL workbook to begin beta testing in the fall. Comments from students will be incorporated into the final product and the accompanying teacher handbook. CDM will partner with MNA to publish up to six levels of curriculum over the next four years.
Roos said the collaboration with MNA is a new development, but it is a goal CDM coordinator Stephen Estock has been working toward ever since he arrived in 2013. “It’s really exciting to see how God is moving and drawing us together.”