Family Playbook

   The family playbook is a revolutionary resource that quickly and nearly effortlessly equips parents to be the main spiritual influencers in their children’s life. The Bible is very clear that it is the parent’s responsibility to train and teach each child the commands and ways of the Lord, however most parents are not intentional in carrying out that Biblical mandate. Many parents are overwhelmed by this task and simply feel inadequate to teach their children the truths about God. Although some parents have purposely set up a spiritual game plan for their family, the majority of parents simply resort to bringing their children to church once a week so that the “experts” can lead their children spiritually.

   In response to this mindset, the church has stepped up and taken ownership of the spiritual formation of children and youth by offering age appropriate lessons and environments to meet the needs of the family. However, what started as a noble and honorable act by the church has now gone to the extreme and the church is inadvertently communicating to parents that the biblical mandate “to train a child in the way he should go” is now the responsibility of the church. When the church should be resourcing and training parents to be the spiritual champions of the children’s life, the church is focusing most of its time and efforts on the children. Research is showing us that the average youth pastor spends less than 3% percent of his time on resourcing parents, and the average church spends less than 3% of their budget to train and resource parents.

   The parent playbook bridges the gap that exists between the church and parents. This curriculum is designed to send age appropriate family spiritual conversations to the parent for each developmental stage of the child’s life. (Kindergarten – 12th grade) The website acts as an accountability engine by reminding the parents through text or email of the importance of having each conversation. The reminder will then link the parent to a bi-monthly talksheet that is available on the user’s profile or through the iphone or android app. Each talksheet contains a clear objective for each conversation, a 411 section that will provide research and tips about the child’s development and culture, a suggestion for how to teach the curriculum, and a sample discussion outline to help guide the conversation. Once the parent has initiated the spiritual conversation they will be asked to journal about the conversation in their online family spiritual heritage journal. The journal entry triggers the website so that the parent no longer receives that reminder, but will be reminded about the next important conversation two months later. The beauty of the curriculum is that it allows parents to feel equipped without being overwhelmed and allows the church to continue to offer the same amazing teaching and environments that it already offers without a radical change in structure. The curriculum effortlessly puts the parent in the role as the main spiritual influencer in each child’s life and sets the church up to be a supporter of the parent’s teaching. Now instead of children hearing Biblical truth at church for the first time, they will hear the church proclaim Biblical truth, and respond by saying, “my parents must be right because the church is sharing the same truths with me”.