PART TWO: Challenge

In Part Two of this rite of passage, you and your community of parents will venture into the outdoors in order to apply the principles you have learned in the previous sessions. Together with church leaders and mentors you will engage in a two-day family camp experience. During this time, you will commune with God through a series of spiritual exercises. You will also engage in a variety of camp experiences to try to reflect on the work of establishing your home, exploring what these experiences teach you about your duty as a parent. Additionally, you and your parenting community will enjoy outdoor bonding activities to help your community develop and grow beyond this rite of passage. In the end, the second part of this process will give you outdoor challenges that will help you understand the sacred and noble calling of building Christian hearth and home.

Daily Devotionals

Near to Those Who Call on Him: Cultivating Intimacy with God

Overview

The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds. The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.

Be much alone with God. Do not put Him off with a quarter of an hour morning and evening. Take time to get thoroughly acquainted. Converse over everything with Him. Unbosom yourself wholly,— every thought, feeling, wish, plan, doubt,—to Him. He wants converse with His creatures; shall His creatures not want converse with Him? He wants, not merely to be on “good terms” with you, if one may use man’s phrase, but to be intimate; shall you decline the intimacy, and be satisfied with mere acquaintance? What! intimate with the world, with friends, with neighbours, with politicians, with philosophers, with naturalists, or with poets; but not with God! That would look ill indeed. Folly, to prefer the clay to the potter, the marble to the sculptor, this little earth and its lesser creatures to the mighty Maker of the universe, the great “All and in all!”

These daily devotionals serve as guides during your family camp experience. Each day of this two-day camping trip will have three scripted times of communion with God. Both morning sessions are a guide in spiritual reading (lectio divina). This practice is a simple way to engage the Bible in a prayerful way. If you follow the outline, you can apply this spiritual practice to any passage of Scripture. The midday practice is a variation on the practice of the daily office (divine hours). Essentially, this modified practice encourages you to pray in the middle of the day in a way that helps you commune with God, sing a song of praise, and consider those around you. The evening activities assist you in developing the habit of personal reflection (daily examen). This spiritual practice helps you to cultivate a spirit of gratitude, confession, hope, and rest as you think about the day and anticipate tomorrow. Each of these devotionals is meant for an hour-long experience (45 minutes of the main, scripted spiritual practice followed by 15 minutes of community interaction). May you experience God’s presence in the context of loving Christian community as you engage God’s word in a prayerful, humble, and listening spirit.

Day One

Morning Reading

This morning exercise guides you through a spiritual reading of the Bible. You will read, meditate, and pray the text of the Scripture as a means to communion with God.

Drawing Near to God

Take a moment to be silent before the Lord. Recognize his sovereign presence in the world and his intimate knowledge of you. Read the following verse as a way to approach God in prayer.

Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

Reading the Text

Read the following biblical passage. Read it slowly, taking time to notice the details of the text. Read it several times, reflecting on what it means and what it teaches you about the faith. Read it actively, noting (or marking) various portions of the text that stand out to you. Read prayerfully, asking God to meet with you as you engage the text.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on the earth.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Considering the Text

Reflect on the meaning of the biblical text you read above. Use the following prompts to guide your thinking. Record your thoughts in the space below.

Praying the Text

Example: “God, help me to ‘honor your father and mother’”

Example: “God, help me to raise my children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

Walking with God

After praying the text of Scripture, ask God to help you walk with him throughout the day. Use the following biblical passage as a guide to this final prayer.

Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Recounting Key Impressions

After concluding this spiritual discipline, reflect on what God is teaching you. Discuss the following questions as a small group.

Midday Prayer

This midday exercise guides you in a time of silence, singing, and prayer. You will abide in God’s presence, sing God’s word, cling to God’s truth, seek God’s wisdom, and pay attention to those around you.

Sitting in Silence

Take this moment to be alone and sit in silence. Break away from the busyness of the day’s events and the noise of the crowd. Remember God’s rule over the world. Reflect on God’s presence in your life. Pay attention to your hunger and thirst for food and use this as a way to remember God as the only one who can truly bring you joy and satisfaction.

“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.” The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Sing the Psalms

Read the following passage prayerfully. Try to put this portion of the Psalms to a tune, melody, or chant. Spend some time singing this Scripture (or a portion of it) to the Lord.

O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.

Committing to Memory

After your time of worship and song, spend time committing this passage to memory. Get your body moving as you memorize. Speak it out loud. Walk as you repeat it. Use hand gestures to remember it.

O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.

Praying for Wisdom

Think about the fact that you are only midway through this day. Ask God for grace to cover the first portion of the day. Seek God for wisdom and strength for the hours that remain. Use the prompts to help your prayer. Record any thoughts that you think are helpful in the space below.

Acknowledging One Another

Declaring God’s Glory in the Church

Conclude your time with the Lord by declaring God’s glory in and through the church. Use the following Scripture as a prompt for your prayer.

But I will walk with integrity; redeem me and be merciful to me.

Recounting Key Impressions

After concluding this spiritual discipline, reflect on what God is teaching you. Discuss the following questions as a small group.

Evening Reflection

This evening exercise guides you through a personal examination. In this practice, you will reflect on your day in gratitude, confess your struggles to the Lord, look ahead to the next day in hope, and find your rest in the Lord.

Acknowledging God’s Presence in Faith

Read the following verse out loud. Then, spend several minutes in silence before the Lord, acknowledging his presence.

Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

Remembering the Day with Thanks

Take a moment to look back on your day. As you consider major events and the ordinary moments, recall how God was present and active in your midst. Read the verse below and record your gratitude below.

I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will recount all Your wonders.

Recalling Your Shortcomings in Humility

Remember the ways you fell short today. Recall times when you were weak, disobedient, divisive, afraid, unfaithful, or unloving. Read the Scripture below, confessing your sin and seeking God’s mercy. Then, record your shortcomings in the space below.

God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

Looking Ahead in Hope

Anticipate what tomorrow will be like and could be like. Think about how you want to live differently this next day. Consider how you want to keep in step with the Spirit more attentively. Identify specific commitments that you want to embrace. Name what you are most hopeful about for the next day. Prayerfully read the following passage and record your anticipations below.

I will bless the Lord who counsels me; even at night my conscience instructs me.

Resting in God with Peace

At the end of your time of personal reflection, entrust yourself to God’s care. Pray this final verse as a means of finding rest and peace in God during your night’s rest.

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Recounting Key Impressions

After concluding this spiritual discipline, reflect on what God is teaching you. Discuss the following questions as a small group.

Day Two

Morning Reading

This morning exercise guides you through a spiritual reading of the Bible. You will read, meditate, and pray the text of the Scripture as a means to communion with God.

Drawing Near to God

Take a moment to be silent before the Lord. Recognize his sovereign presence in the world and his intimate knowledge of you. Read the following verse as a way to approach God in prayer.

But as for me, it is good to draw near to God. I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may proclaim all Your works.

Reading the Text

Read the following biblical passage. Read it slowly, taking time to notice the details of the text. Read it several times, reflecting on what it means and what it teaches you about the faith. Read it actively, noting (or marking) various portions of the text that stand out to you. Read prayerfully, asking God to meet with you as you engage the text.

My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for they will add length to your days, years and peace to your life. Never let loving devotion or faithfulness leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will find favor and high regard in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. This will bring healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.

Considering the Text

Reflect on the meaning of the biblical text you read above. Use the following prompts to guide your thinking. Record your thoughts in the space below.

Praying the Text

Example: “God, help me to ‘not forget’ the teaching of my parents. Help me to ‘let [my] heart keep [their] commandments.’”

Example: “God, help our instruction to be godly. Let us guide our children in ‘loving devotion and faithfulness.’”

Walking with God

After praying the text of Scripture, ask God to help you walk with him throughout the day. Use the following biblical passage as a guide to this final prayer.

Then you will succeed, if you carefully follow the statutes and ordinances that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged.

Recounting Key Impressions

After concluding this spiritual discipline, reflect on what God is teaching you. Discuss the following questions as a small group.

Midday Prayer

This midday exercise guides you in a time of silence, singing, and prayer. You will abide in God’s presence, sing God’s word, cling to God’s truth, seek God’s wisdom, and pay attention to those around you.

Sitting in Silence

Take this moment to be alone and sit in silence. Break away from the busyness of the day’s events and the noise of the crowd. Remember God’s rule over the world. Reflect on God’s presence in your life. Pay attention to your hunger and thirst for food and use this as a way to remember God as the only one who can truly bring you joy and satisfaction.

Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our hearts rejoice in Him, since we trust in His holy name. May Your loving devotion rest on us, O Lord, as we put our hope in You.

Sing the Psalms

Read the following passage prayerfully. Try to put this portion of the Psalms to a tune, melody, or chant. Spend some time singing this Scripture (or a portion of it) to the Lord.

How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts! My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Committing to Memory

After your time of worship and song, spend time committing this passage to memory. Get your body moving as you memorize. Speak it out loud. Walk as you repeat it. Use hand gestures to remember it.

How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts! My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Praying for Wisdom

Think about the fact that you are only midway through this day. Ask God for grace to cover the first portion of the day. Seek God for wisdom and strength for the hours that remain. Use the prompts to help your prayer. Record any thoughts that you think are helpful in the space below.

Acknowledging One Another

Declaring God’s Glory in the Church

Conclude your time with the Lord by declaring God’s glory in and through the church. Use the following Scripture as a prompt for your prayer.

Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.

Recounting Key Impressions

After concluding this spiritual discipline, reflect on what God is teaching you. Discuss the following questions as a small group.

Evening Reflection

This evening exercise guides you through a personal examination. In this practice, you will reflect on your day in gratitude, confess your struggles to the Lord, look ahead to the next day in hope, and find your rest in the Lord.

Acknowledging God’s Presence in Faith

Read the following verse out loud. Then, spend several minutes in silence before the Lord, acknowledging his presence.

For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and the Lord examines all his paths.

Remembering the Day with Thanks

Take a moment to look back on your day. As you consider major events and the ordinary moments, recall how God was present and active in your midst. Read the verse below and record your gratitude below.

I will praise God’s name in song and exalt Him with thanksgiving.

Recalling Your Shortcomings in Humility

Remember the ways you fell short today. Recall times when you were weak, disobedient, divisive, afraid, unfaithful, or unloving. Read the Scripture below, confessing your sin and seeking God’s mercy. Then, record your shortcomings in the space below.

Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin.

Looking Ahead in Hope

Anticipate what tomorrow will be like and could be like. Think about how you want to live differently this next day. Consider how you want to keep in step with the Spirit more attentively. Identify specific commitments that you want to embrace. Name what you are most hopeful about for the next day. Prayerfully read the following passage and record your anticipations below.

Rest in God alone, O my soul, for my hope comes from Him.

Resting in God with Peace

At the end of your time of personal reflection, entrust yourself to God’s care. Pray this final verse as a means of finding rest and peace in God during your night’s rest.

In God alone my soul finds rest; my salvation comes from Him.

Recounting Key Impressions

After concluding this spiritual discipline, reflect on what God is teaching you. Discuss the following questions as a small group.

Outdoor Experiences

HomeSteading: Practicing Parental Duty in the Outdoors

Overview

Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!

In some points of view the community is made up of the individuals whom it includes. The population of a city is the number of separate persons the city contains. But on the side of its moral character, the community is made up of the families within it; and what they are, as to purity, order, and religion, the community will be. In most great cities there are districts in which the families are few in comparison with the number of individuals. Such districts are commonly the haunts of criminals, and even the value of the property is usually lowered as the result. In such places there are houses but not homes, dwellings but not families.

This section of the rite of passage will help you reflect on your duty as a godly parent—building Christian hearth and home—through outdoor experiences. These challenges are meant to be embodied experiences in the outdoors that give you time to consider the spiritual responsibility of parenting through a physical outdoor activity. Some may consider these challenges unnecessary. They seek merely the instructions of godly parenting and hope to implement them as soon as possible. This may be well and good. But the ability to have experiences that affect the physical senses can strengthen our commitment and understanding of our spiritual duties. These activities were also designed with the church in mind. As parents go through these experiences together, they hopefully will create memories, establish bonds, and fortify relationships with each other. Not only does being out in creation help us commune with our Lord, it also helps forge relationships with one another, helping us to become a mature church that operates as a parenting community. If your church desires to design its own outdoor activities, you can use the blank space templates in this section to do so.

Outdoor Experience One

Homemaking

This outdoor experience is intended to connect an experience in nature with our parenting duty. As you go through this experience, do so reflectively, considering how it parallels with and gives insight into parenting duty.

Inspiration: Getting the Right Mindset

Read the following before you perform this outdoor activity.

But everything must be done in a proper and orderly manner.

Families are nurseries of all societies … Well-ordered families naturally produce a good order in other societies.

The house represents the family—its present life, past lineage, and future legacy. Christian parenting involves establishing a home according to God’s design. Order in a home fosters peace, harmony, stability, and maturity. In a well-ordered home, we cultivate a context in which our children—and our guests—can grow in the gospel and in God’s grace. The physical activity of setting up camp will help you reflect on the spiritual duty of ordering your home.

Implementation: Fulfilling Our Family Duty

Follow the directions below to perform this outdoor activity.

Christian homebuilding seeks to establish one’s family according to God’s order and design. God’s word is a blueprint for our families. We need a vision for what a well-ordered home looks like. In this outdoor activity, you will set up your campsite for your family—an act of homemaking. This physical act will help you reflectively consider your spiritual duty to your family. Remember: In the act of setting up camp, you are not just preparing for an outdoor family camp experience—you are practicing the sacred and solemn work of building Christian hearth and home. The following tasks will guide you in this embodied activity:

• Gather and organize supplies for the campsite.
• Set up the tent and sleeping areas.
• Delineate areas for cooking, play, rest, and work.
• Define the boundaries of the campsite.

Reflection: Evaluating an Important Work

Record your thoughts on this experience in the space below.

Consecration: Dedicating Our Home to God

Experience Two: Hearth Building

Hearth Building

This outdoor experience is intended to connect an experience in nature with our parenting duty. As you go through this experience, do so reflectively, considering how it parallels with and gives insight into parenting duty.

Inspiration: Getting the Right Mindset

Read the following before you perform this outdoor activity.

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

The Christian has joy as other men have in the common mercies of life … He is not dead to the happiness of the household: around his hearth he finds happy associations, without which life were drear indeed. His children fill his home with glee, his wife is his solace and delight, his friends are his comfort and refreshment.

The hearth signifies the intimate bonds and daily provision experienced with the family. Hearts bond around a family hearth. The warmth of the fire reminds us of the comfort of close and trusted relationships. The fire as fuel reminds us of God’s gracious provision—food and fellowship, health and holiness, responsibility and refreshment. At the hearth, one enjoys the intimate conversation with kin and close relations. Song and jubilee can often be heard around a simple, community-building fire. To build a Christian home, we must tend to our household hearth—keeping the bonds of our relationship with one another fresh and fertile.

Implementation: Fulfilling Our Family Duty

Follow the directions below to perform this outdoor activity.

Christian homebuilding seeks to cultivate deep and lasting bonds with one another. The relationships we form in our families shape the way we approach relationships for the rest of our lives. The family is a fertile context for fellowship and communion. In this outdoor activity, you will set up your fire pit for your family—an act of hearth-building. This physical act will help you reflectively consider your spiritual duty to your family. Remember: In the act of setting up your hearth, you are not just preparing for an outdoor family camp experience—you are practicing the sacred and solemn work of building a family culture that nurtures and nourishes. The following tasks will guide you in this embodied activity:

• Gather stones to demarcate the fire area.
• Establish any cooking areas over the fire.
• Set up sitting areas for people to fellowship.
• Make sure that the fire pit is safe and the fire will not spread.
• Start the fire and keep it going during the trip.

Reflection: Evaluating an Important Work

Record your thoughts on this experience in the space below.

Consecration: Dedicating Our Home to God

Experience Three: Shepherd’s Carry

Shepherd’s Carry

This outdoor experience is intended to connect an experience in nature with our parenting duty. As you go through this experience, do so reflectively, considering how it parallels with and gives insight into parenting duty.

Inspiration: Getting the Right Mindset

Read the following before you perform this outdoor activity.

Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; shepherd them and carry them forever.

Let it be the principal part of your care and labour … to make holiness appear to them the most necessary, honourable, gainful, pleasant, delightful, amiable state of life … Especially draw them to the love of it, by representing it as lovely … Yet in putting them upon the practice of religious duties, you must carry them on by degrees, and put them at first upon no more than they can bear.

Parenting is simultaneously a gracious gift and a weighty responsibility. Alongside the joy of family life is the sacred duty to raise children in the faith. This is shepherding work. The shepherd signifies a caretaker who bears responsibility to feed, nourish, protect, and guide the flock. A good shepherd puts the needs of the flock before his own and is willing to lay down his life for the sheep. Parents must learn to shepherd their children, discharging this duty with a trust in God’s shepherding care over them. To build a Christian home, we must learn to bear parental responsibility with sobriety, joy, and dependence upon the Lord.

Implementation: Fulfilling Our Family Duty

Follow the directions below to perform this outdoor activity.

Christian homebuilding tends to the family like a flock. Ultimately, Christian parents recognize that their children belong to God most of all. To raise a child in the faith is a heavy duty on parental shoulders. In this outdoor activity, you will go on a hike with your family with a weighted backpack—an act of bearing responsibility on behalf of your family and children. This physical act will help you reflectively consider your spiritual duty to your family. Remember: In the act of carrying a heavy load, you are not just testing your physical stamina and strength—you are practicing the sacred and solemn work of tending to your children like a good shepherd. The following tasks will guide you in this embodied activity:

• Plan a family hike with all the members of your family.
• Fill a backpack with weight (either rocks or supplies).
• Hike together as a family, willingly carrying the supplies of others in your own pack.
• As you hike, consider the spiritual, God-given duty given to you as a parent.

Reflection: Evaluating an Important Work

Record your thoughts on this experience in the space below.

Consecration: Dedicating Our Home to God

Experience Four: Table Setting

Table Setting

This outdoor experience is intended to connect an experience in nature with our parenting duty. As you go through this experience, do so reflectively, considering how it parallels with and gives insight into parenting duty.

Inspiration: Getting the Right Mindset

Read the following before you perform this outdoor activity.

Continue in brotherly love. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

Welcome poor men and strangers to your homely board, that with them Christ may be your guest.

The table is central to a Christian home. Around the table, families enjoy food, express fellowship, foster conversation, and offer encouragement. During meals, members of a family strengthen the deep bonds of their relationships. Friendships are built and God is explored. Life is investigated and belonging is realized. Joys are shared and sorrows are shouldered. At the table, families welcome guests to participate in their household life—caring for the poor, tending to the needy, and welcoming the marginalized. Godly parents learn to use table fellowship as one of its most sacred and powerful instruments in building Christian hearth and home.

Implementation: Fulfilling Our Family Duty

Follow the directions below to perform this outdoor activity.

Christian homebuilding sets the table for close bonds of relationship and fellowship. The togetherness experienced around the table is profound. Setting a welcoming table is crucial to cultivate a healthy home. It is also a vital means of embodying gospel truth. In our families, we should welcome others as God has welcomed us. In this outdoor activity, you will make a meal for your family and extend the invitation to others to join in—an act of making your family inviting and hospitable. This physical act will help you reflectively consider your spiritual duty to your family. Remember: In the act of setting the table, you are not just feeding stomachs and nourishing bodies—you are knitting souls together in a way that can represent Christ. The following tasks will guide you in this embodied activity:

• Plan out a meal and gather the supplies.
• Give everyone in your family a task for preparation.
• If you are camping with other families, invite these families to the meal.
• Organize the meal time to be one that intentionally fosters relationship and cultivates a welcoming atmosphere. Consider how you will open the meal, prayers you will pray, blessings you will offer, and topics you will discuss.

Reflection: Evaluating an Important Work

Record your thoughts on this experience in the space below.

Consecration: Dedicating Our Home to God

Experience Five: Night Vigil

Night Vigil

This outdoor experience is intended to connect an experience in nature with our parenting duty. As you go through this experience, do so reflectively, considering how it parallels with and gives insight into parenting duty.

Inspiration: Getting the Right Mindset

Read the following before you perform this outdoor activity.

Then the lookout shouted: “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; night after night I stay at my post.”

The scope of our art is to provide the soul with wings, to rescue it from the world and give it to God, and to watch over that which is in His image, if it abides, to take it by the hand, if it is in danger, or restore it, if ruined, to make Christ to dwell in the heart by the Spirit.

Because the family is one of God’s greatest gifts, it is one of the enemy’s most hated targets. Faced with temptation, sin, affliction, and opposition, the family is under fierce attack. Parents are to remain watchful over their families. While the family sleeps, we should remain alert, circumspect, and vigilant. God has entrusted the safety of our home to our watchful eye. Although God is the ultimate protector of our home, we are to exercise faithful guardianship—filtering the influences that come into our home, managing the culture within our home, and mobilizing the good work done outside our home. While a spiritual war rages around us, we must—like watchmen—remain attentive, heedful, observant, and wise. Sometimes, God may even awaken us in the midnight hours to lather our family in protective prayer.

Implementation: Fulfilling Our Family Duty

Follow the directions below to perform this outdoor activity.

Christian homebuilding involves guarding our family. Parents are God-appointed watchmen over their home. To fulfill this duty, we must develop a watchful eye, strengthen an alert mind, cultivate spiritual discernment, and sharpen our attentive spirit. In this outdoor activity, you will perform a night vigil—an act of watching over your family with prayerfulness and vigilance. This physical act will help you reflectively consider your spiritual duty to your family. Remember: In the act of keeping watch at night, you are not just guarding tents and campsites—you are practicing what it means to remain vigilant at all times, knowing that our greatest and most watchful act is to entrust our family to the Lord’s safekeeping. The following tasks will guide you in this embodied activity:

• Choose a night to keep guard over your family. Identify which hours of the night you will keep vigil.
• During the vigil, reflect on the dangers that present themselves to your family in the surrounding world. Reflect on your God-appointed duty to protect them.
• During the vigil, write a prayer of protection over your family. Be specific about the safety and protection needed to care for your family well.
• If you are camping as a group, consider how to keep every hour of night guarded by taking shifts as a community.

Reflection: Evaluating an Important Work

Record your thoughts on this experience in the space below.

Consecration: Dedicating Our Home to God

Outdoor Experience One

This outdoor experience is intended to connect an experience in nature with our parenting duty. As you go through this experience, do so reflectively, considering how it parallels with and gives insight into parenting duty.

Inspiration: Getting the Right Mindset

Read the following before you perform this outdoor activity.

Implementation: Fulfilling Our Family Duty

Follow the directions below to perform this outdoor activity.

Reflection: Evaluating an Important Work

Record your thoughts on this experience in the space below.

1. How successfully did you complete this activity? What challenges did you face in this activity?
2. What did it teach you about your responsibility to order your home?
3. How unified were you and your spouse in this task? How well did you and your spouse complement each other?

Consecration: Dedicating Our Home to God

Write a final prayer to consecrate your home to the Lord.

Outdoor Experience Two

This outdoor experience is intended to connect an experience in nature with our parenting duty. As you go through this experience, do so reflectively, considering how it parallels with and gives insight into parenting duty.

Inspiration: Getting the Right Mindset

Read the following before you perform this outdoor activity.

Implementation: Fulfilling Our Family Duty

Follow the directions below to perform this outdoor activity.

Reflection: Evaluating an Important Work

Record your thoughts on this experience in the space below.

1. How successfully did you complete this activity? What challenges did you face in this activity?
2. What did it teach you about your responsibility to order your home?
3. How unified were you and your spouse in this task? How well did you and your spouse complement each other?

Consecration: Dedicating Our Home to God

Write a final prayer to consecrate your home to the Lord.

Community Building

Homes of Holy Testimony: Locating Homebuilding in the Household of Faith

Overview

Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these things in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. By common confession, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, was taken up in glory.

It is not too much to say that the perfecting of Home is the masterpiece of the Gospel, in its work of social blessing. Nothing on earth is so beautiful as a perfect home; and it takes the Name of Christ and the grace of His Spirit to produce the full phenomenon. And then, where the home is really perfect, it is beautiful with a beauty which must diffuse itself in good around. For home is the school of mutual unselfishness and duty, where love is continually learning its true work, namely, the finding its happiness in the felicity of another. And such a school cannot but send its scholars forth, in one way or another, to practise the blessed art outside the doors ; carrying on the campaign of love extended from that happy base. The home where the Lord reigns is “watered garden,” fresh, fragrant, and in order. It is also “a spring of water, whose waters fail not,” making glad the region around it, which needs so sorely the gracious stream.

Parenting is a community venture. Inasmuch as the family is a God-appointed means of forming individuals, shaping communities, and influencing society, so the church is a divine entity that helps to strengthen households. In the church community, we have parenting peers who can support us in our homebuilding duties. In the community of faith, we have mentors who can guide us in wisdom, warn us of danger, correct us in failure, and encourage us in the face of disappointment. In God’s people, we have church leaders whose faith maturity can serve as an example to us and whose teaching can guide us in the difficult terrain of raising children. With the family of faith, we have the opportunity to benefit from previous generations and impact future generations. We should not embark on this parenting journey alone. Therefore, the following section is an opportunity to process what you have been learning about parenting with trusted members of the faith community. Use this section of this resource to help situate your parenting work in the household of faith.

Mentoring Session One

Project Review

We grow in the faith within the context of loving relationships with other believers. In this session, use the following guide to help you think about your parenting duty with trusted spiritual mentors.

Discussion Questions

In this session, you will review your projects with your mentor and record feedback here.

Reflections or Observations

Mentoring Session Two

Celebrations and Struggles

We grow in the faith within the context of loving relationships with other believers. In this session, use the following guide to help you think about your parenting duty with trusted spiritual mentors.

Discussion Questions

With a mentoring couple, use the following questions to guide your discussions about parenting. These sessions are meant to provide an open-ended format to celebrate successes, talk about struggles, and pray together.

Reflections or Observations

Mentoring Session Three

Worship and Tradition

We grow in the faith within the context of loving relationships with other believers. In this session, use the following guide to help you think about your parenting duty with trusted spiritual mentors.

Discussion Questions

With a mentoring couple, use the following questions to guide your discussions about parenting. These sessions are meant to provide an open-ended format to celebrate successes, talk about struggles, and pray together.

Family Worship

Family Tradition

Reflections or Observations

Mentoring Session Four

Value and Education

We grow in the faith within the context of loving relationships with other believers. In this session, use the following guide to help you think about your parenting duty with trusted spiritual mentors.

Discussion Questions

With a mentoring couple, use the following questions to guide your discussions about parenting. These sessions are meant to provide an open-ended format to celebrate successes, talk about struggles, and pray together.

Family Values

Family Education

Reflections or Observations

Mentoring Session Five

Discipline and Mission

We grow in the faith within the context of loving relationships with other believers. In this session, use the following guide to help you think about your parenting duty with trusted spiritual mentors.

Discussion Questions

With a mentoring couple, use the following questions to guide your discussions about parenting. These sessions are meant to provide an open-ended format to celebrate successes, talk about struggles, and pray together.

Family Discipline

Family Mission and Vision

Reflections or Observations

Mentoring Session Six

Life Spheres

We grow in the faith within the context of loving relationships with other believers. In this session, use the following guide to help you think about your parenting duty with trusted spiritual mentors.

Discussion Questions

With a mentoring couple, use the following questions to guide your discussions about parenting. These sessions are meant to provide an open-ended format to celebrate successes, talk about struggles, and pray together.

Focused Questions

Reflections or Observations

General Reflections

General Reflections

We grow in the faith within the context of loving relationships with other believers. In this session, use the following guide to help you think about your parenting duty with trusted spiritual mentors.