Discipling the Next Generation with Adam and Chelsea Griffin

Parents are not the only ones called to disciple children! In this episode, Hunter talks with Adam and Chelsea Griffin about discipling the next generation—they talk about the biblical basis for it, offer encouragement to parents and church families, and also get into practical ideas to help the next generation of believers grow in their love for the Lord. 

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. At what point did you guys develop a heart for family discipleship? Why does teaching and training children matter?

2. What is our ultimate goal in family discipleship? Have any particular Scriptures informed how you disciple your boys?

3. What are some practical examples of what family discipleship has looked for you guys in different seasons? What have you seen other families do that has encouraged you?

4. How are you all thinking about discipline and training as one aspect of discipleship?

5. What encouragement do you have for women who feel like their husbands are not interested or invested in discipling their families?

6. What about when close friends differ (practically speaking) when it comes to their methodology? How do you guys navigate that with grace and truth?

7. How does the church (as a whole) have the opportunity to disciple families? How can the church partner with families as they (the families) seek to disciple their children?

8. What word of encouragement do you have for mothers who feel like they're failing in this area?

NOTES & QUOTES

• “I want to show you how our God blesses parents with faith. He gives rest to exhausted parents. He forgives sinful parents. He comforts afflicted parents. He loves rejected parents. Our God humbles proud parents. He restores failed parents. He is near to brokenhearted parents. Our God is a refuge to desperate parents.” - Adam Griffin 

• “We all have the opportunity to come alongside the children in our congregations and to help them know and love God more.” - Hunter Beless

• “There's an opportunity for families that are in the church to have formed their children with good doctrine, with sound theology about who God is and who they are in light of how God made them... There's formative work that can be done in the home.” - Chelsea Griffin 

• “It can seem like you're parenting and living your life as a family, and then there's this interruption. The kids are fighting. There's an interruption. You have an unhappy kid. And it's interrupting what you're doing. But we've tried to reframe our minds. That is parenting. This is your moment… This is the moment I needed God to give because I need all these things to pop up so I can teach my children the difference between entitlement and someone wronging you, right? Or the difference between irritability and patience and to call them to more and better.” - Chelsea Griffin

• “You address things in your kids and make them act out things even before their hearts are there. We make our kids apologize even though their hearts may not be contrite, even though they may not be repentant, we call them to repentance. We are planting the seeds; we are watering them so that one day when their heart is contrite, they know exactly what to do.” - Adam Griffin

• “We need Christ's help to be able to respond rightly.” - Hunter Beless

• “Sometimes we get in our minds, especially when comes to family discipleship, that there's some family out there that's just awesome and perfect and killing it. And they know the word and their kids are sitting around them on the floor. I imagine there's somebody else out there that has a better version of this than I do. And since I don't, we feel discouraged. When I would encourage a lot of people, sometimes the best way to lead somebody in the Word is to be only one step ahead of them.” - Adam Griffin

• “If you're just starting out [as a Christian], go crazy. Don't be quenched. Go crazy and soak up the Word. Start reading your Bible and just fall in love with God's word and apply it to your heart.” - Chelsea Griffin

• “If you feel like you have an understanding of the gospel, then you do have something for the moment.” - Chelsea Griffin 

• “If you have a good understanding of the gospel–we have this perfect heavenly Father that loves us so much that when he said there has to be justice for the wrongs that have been done. Jesus, God the Son, takes all of our punishment for us. That will preach in a moment of discipline to say, ‘As a parent, I know what it is to need discipline or to need justice for the wrongs I've committed.’ Share that with your child, that they are so loved by God that he sent his only Son, to take every punishment we could deserve so that we could be right with God and be in eternity with him, to be in paradise with him. That's a sweet promise.” - Chelsea Griffin

• “Jesus is always trying to set us free. He's always trying to call us to something better. He's always trying to give us something good.” - Chelsea Griffin

• “You're not off the hook to disciple your children to what the Sh’ma says. We teach these things diligently to our children. That diligence is still required of you. And at the same time, you can trust the Lord to hold you up that he will give you enough.” - Chelsea Griffin

• “What we want is a father who's more and more like Jesus Christ. And so we can pray for that, commit that to the Lord, and say, ‘This is what I want for my husband, that he would be sanctified by my kindness, not by my nagging, not by my complaining. That I wouldn't grow in resentment and bitterness. [Praying] Lord, set me free to be a person of peace.’” - Adam Griffin

• “The responsibility to communicate to the next generation the truths of God is not only on moms and dads. It's the responsibility of whatever generation you're a part of to share your faith with the next one.  That's a real privilege. And beyond that, it's such a blessing to any mom and dad to say, ‘We are not alone in what the Lord's called us to in planting seeds of the gospel and watering them.’ My hope is that a church emphasizes that.” - Adam Griffin

• “We hope for something different and better within the family of God, that everyone would catch a vision of what it could look like. I want every single adult in our church to commend the works of God to my children, especially those young adults who seem cool. Just in case my kids think that only mom and dad and their friends follow Jesus, I want them to see what it looks like to follow Jesus at every age and stage.” - Chelsea Griffin

• “The Lord has called us to some very clear things–to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Which means every other love is subservient to that. It is only through the love of God that you're going to love anything else because the Lord has your entire heart. Not just the majority of your heart, not the biggest portion of your heart, but your entire heart. And since the Lord has our entire heart, there's gonna be a difference between us and families for whom that is not the case.” - Adam Griffin

• “If I love somebody and I want to see them restored, and I see anything in them, in my brother or sister, that is unrighteous, then I try to find a conversation with them. I want to have a conversation with them whose purpose is restoration, whose purpose is restoring them to something good. I'm not calling them out because I'm right and they're wrong. But if I find in myself a heart of compassion that says, ‘I see some things in your family that are concerning me because they don't align with Scripture. And I know that you claim to follow Christ, I claim to follow Christ. Can we talk about them together?’ Finding ways to gently affirm that.” - Adam Griffin

• “If I'm seeking justification through my parenting, instead of I'm justified by Christ alone, but I'm looking for it through parenting, then anyone who does it differently than me is gonna be an assailant to that justified feeling I crave. So there's a distraction from the gospel.” - Chelsea Griffin

• “Walk in some freedom with their own choices. We're not talking about sin and righteousness. We're just talking about preferences.” - Chelsea Griffin 

• “We have to take an honest look at ourselves and ask, ‘Do I feel justified by my decisions? Am I kind of giving myself some affirmation that I'm at risk of losing if I see somebody do it differently than me, especially if they have a good result or a decent result?’ As women, we've got to bind together as sisters in Christ to say we are justified by Christ alone and we will encourage each other.” - Chelsea Griffin 

• “God does not give us all the same exact assignment and he does not give us all the same exact gifting.” - Chelsea Griffin  

• “We need to be reminded in parenting that we have a God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and can do everything perfectly. If we could trust that he loves our kids more than we do and we've been invited to do this with a perfect, powerful God, in that comes all kinds of relief. And that relief comes in the form of peace, and it comes in the form of patience.” - Adam Griffin

• “Ask Him to help you be faithful today with what he's asked you to do. And where you fall short, don't let the enemy or your own flesh discourage you because you have everything you ever wanted secured in Christ. And so if this goes poorly, if parenting goes poorly today or it goes poorly long-term, you have something in Christ that can never ever be taken from you.” - Adam Griffin 

RESOURCES

Family Discipleship Podcast

Good News for Parents by Adam Griffin

Family Discipleship by Matt Chandler and Adam Griffin

Some of our favorite Children’s Storybook Bibles:

The Child’s Story Bible by Catherine F. Vos

The Biggest Story Bible Storybook by Kevin DeYoung

The Gospel Story Bible by Marty Machowski

Titus: Displaying the Gospel of Grace by Hunter Beless and Courtney Doctor

Discipling: How to Help Others Follow Jesus by Mark Dever

Growing Together: Taking Mentorship Beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests by Melissa Kruger

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Why is discipling the next generation important?

2. How can the church as a whole come alongside families to help disciple children?

3. What are some specific areas in which you’d like to grow when it comes to discipling the next generation?

4. If you are a parent, how does remembering the gospel for yourself affect how you interact with your children, especially in moments of discipline and instruction?

5. Is there someone you know who does family discipleship well that you could learn from?

6. What might you do or implement based on what you learned in this week’s episode?

RECENT CONVERSATIONS

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