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FAITH NURTURERS (2 TIMOTHY 1:1-14)

REFLECTION
The theme for our reflection is “Faith nurturers”. A nurturer is someone who takes care of others, offering food, protection, support, encouragement, spiritual and moral training . It is fundamentally about bringing up or training a person to become productive or resourceful to society. A faith nurturer is a believer or Christian who intentionally and purposefully brings up or train another person to understand and live by the teachings of Christ, believing in Him as Lord and Saviour with the goal of maturing and dedicating his or her life to the service of God. Faith nurturing is the unending cycle or process of raising one’s child to become a mature believer who would in turn become a faith nurturer to the next generation. We shall reflect on the fact that faith nurturing begins at home and Christian parents and guardians have been given the ministry of faith nurturing by God.

Beloved in the Lord, many have become men and women of faith because of the efforts of their parents, pastor, presbyters, sunday school teachers, an evangelist or a dedicated and faithful believer. The first disciples called by Jesus were nurtured in faith as disciples or learners and later matured as Apostles to lead the Church and spread the Gospel. They also evangelised and nurtured other believers in the early Church. Paul acknowledged the source of Timothy’s faith nurturing and maturity into Christian leadership when he commended Timothy’s grandmother and mother for being resourceful faith nurturers. Paul wrote, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. (2 Timothy 1:5). In other words, Paul underscores the importance of parents and guardians as faith nurturers in bring up children to become resourceful to the church and society. This is a divine calling which requires parents and guardians to be intentional about training their children and dependants to grow or mature in the Lord.

Dear friend in the Lord, as matured believers, we owe the next generation a nurturing that firmly roots their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is for this reason we are greatly enjoined to “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6) Faith nurturing must be done intentionally in two ways. These are active and passive fiath nurturing.

Faith nurturing must be done actively. Active faith nurturing invovles buying Bibles and hymnbooks for one’s children and observing Bible study and prayer time with the children. Instructing them to attend children ministry services and encouraging them to pay attention and learn from the children ministry facilitators. Encouraging children to participate in activities like Bible quiz, Youth camps, fellowhship meetings and other Bible or faith based programmes.

Passive faith nurturing, on the other hand, involves influencing our children or dependent with the Christian way of life through our speech or communication, actions, dressing, self-control and our response to social issues and practices that are detrimental to the faith of a christian. In other words, active nurturing takes place when children are instructed to learn but passive nurturing takes places when children observe and learn. The challenge in some homes is that parents are actively instructing their children to obey the teachings of Scripture but are passively doing the opposite of the very things they instruct their children not to do. This development may lead to a situation where the child is confused and may end up living a shallow or hypocritical Christian life. When his or her parents are at home, he or she does things to please them or makes them believe that he or she is following their instruction with regards to the Bible but if they are absent, the child lives a totally different lifestyle which contradict the teaching of Scripture.

Christian parent must live a life that reflect what they instruct their children to do. For instance, a father cannot be practicing adultery while teaching the son to be faithful to his wife when he grows. A mother cannot be disrespecting her husband while teaching the daughter to respect her husband when she grows. Active and passive faith nurturing are coterminous. They go hand in hand and must be practiced together by parents to achieve a holistic faith nurturing process and result. As Christian parents, we owe a duty to our children to raise them in the Lord, and that starts from today if we have failed to do so in the past. It is not enough to instruct them to go to sunday school or children ministry service. You must actively nurture them at home and passively nurture them with your character or lifestyle. Always remember that as a parent, you are the pastor of your home and your house is your congregation. You represent Christ in both speech and action in everything you do and how you nurture your children. Over pampering and creating a liberal or a laissez-faire atmosphere at home may adversely affect the faith nurturing process of our children. It is for this purpose we are greatly adomnshed, “Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them. (Proverbs 13:24)

One of our greatest blessings in life is to have our grandparents alive. Grandparents also participate in our nurturing process. In our overly busy world, grandparents’ roles in the live of their grandchildren is indispensable. Due to the busy nature of some parents’ work, grandparents are now actively and passively playing the faith nurturing role. The principle mentioned earlier remains the same. Unfortunately, some grandparents who used to be very strict on their children rather turn to over pamper their grandchildren and this can be detrimental to the grandchildren’s faith and moral development.

In summary, we have discovered that faith nurturing begins at home. Christian parents and guardians have been given the ministry of faith nurturing. Like the mother and grandmother of Timothy, we owe our children or the next generation both an active and passive faith nurturing. Shalom.

PRAYER
Holy Spirit, empower us to be resourceful faith nurturers in our generation as Christian parents and guardians. Amen.