Titus2Talk: Training our Children for Ministry – Part 1

I am excited to post our first interview with a Titus 2 woman, one who is walking out her role as a wife and mother in a beautiful, God-glorifying way. Scarlett is a woman that I have greatly admired. I have loved observing the way she has worked alongside her husband to train and disciple her children to follow Christ. She is wife to Cobe and mother to seven lovely children that are a delight to be around. After talking about ministry as a family several weeks back, I wanted to pick the brains of a few women I know, asking how they are training and including their children in ministry as a family.

Thanks Scarlett!

1. Do you think it is important to include your children in your ministry? And why?

Cobe and I think that it is important to include our children in our ministry and to serve together as a family because part of their training is to be purposeful when we do our normal every day activities, taking everyday opportunities to share the gospel.

2. How are your purposing to incorporate your children in a family ministry?

We are purposing to incorporate our children in our family ministry by taking them to Missions Connexion (a local missions conference), listening to audio books about missionaries in the car, reading the Bible as a family. McKenna (our eldest daughter) also started a Bible study and prayer at night with her sisters. Our children pray for Bibleless people. Our kids help hand out gospel tracts with us. We talk with our kids and explain why we do what we do. We also read good books. Our favorites are the YWAM books- Christian Heroes: Then & Now by Janet and Geoff Benge. We have also taken them to a Wycliffe Bible Translators base for a tour and they read Voice of the Martyrs magazines for children.

They also listen to their i-pod at night while sleeping (ESV Bible read by Max McLean), they have a globe to look up where missionaries live, maps on the walls, a bibleless people poster, missionary cards to pray for missionaries, pictures of missionaries on our fridge and we support and pray for a little girl in Haiti.

3. Do you have any practical suggestions for fellow young mothers for increasing a heart to serve in your children?

Our practical suggestions for fellow young mothers for increasing a heart to serve in our children are:

1. Prince or Princess Day – For example: McKenna’s princess day is Monday. On her day, she serves her family cheerfully all day. Whenever there is a need- the laundry needs to be changed, the dishes need to be put away, I need a diaper for the baby, etc. I call for my princess to help me.

And then that evening after the other children go to bed, she gets to stay up an extra 15-30 minutes and we play a game, read a book together or have a little tea party and we spend time together talking and sharing. They love it!

2. Hospitality – One of the greatest ways our children are learning to serve is by being hospitable. They learn to prepare before hand, help with meals and cleanup, entertain, they listen to other people share their stories; their testimony, how they met, got married, what God is doing in their lives. Our children stay with us when guests are in our home. They don’t go off to play while the adults are talking but are sitting, listening and learning to ask questions and be a part of the conversation; they are gleaning from others. We also pray as a family before people leave. We have seen our children grow so much from being hospitable. It is a blessing!

3. Part of being in a big family is learning to serve. They have to help, they are not guests in our home, but active participants. Many hands make light work. I love to see them working together and serving each other. by cleaning up, helping with little ones, they are learning to serve their brothers and sisters.

4. Allow giving hearts, teaching them to store up treasures in heaven and not suppressing their giving heart. Children like to give, encourage it!

5. We let our kids have good role models, supervised, to grow in the Lord. Their love for Christ, their excitement rubs off on our kids. For example: Samara (a young woman our church) opened up her heart to our children and shared her love for Christ and her interest in Voice of the Martyrs with our children. She shared her own personal library with our daughters and loaned them books about missionaries and encouraged them to follow Christ. She has been an incredible friend to my daughters and we really appreciate her! Now, they love to share their books with their other friends and encourage them to read stories about missionaries.

Stay tuned for part 2, including wonderful resource recommendations and how they are training their children to sit through church together…