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Did God make those bananas?Leading your child to a living faithChristian confetti launcher!DID GOD MAKE THOSE BANANAS? If you are a mother, you will almost certainly have had doubts about how well you are raising your children. Susan Richards reminds Christian mothers of the daily priority of ministry in raising children, being ‘alert to take every opportunity to show the importance and relevance of knowing God in our secular society’. She calls herself ‘an ideas machine’ and likens the book to a confetti launcher filled with ideas in the hope that some of them will prove useful in building faith in the reader’s family. Considerable personal detail of the Richards’ family life is shared, even family photos. This openness is testimony to the warmth and naturalness with which Peter and Susan Richards live out their faith. However, the overriding impression is that what parents do will determine whether their children grow up believing. There are sections on praying for a baby’s salvation and brief gospel explanations in the final chapter for varying family circumstances, but the emphasis is on the value of activities, projects, conversations and events to teach children the Bible, in expectation that this will lead them to faith. A wise minister has commented that Christian parents often think they are saved by God’s grace but that their children are saved by their works and I wonder whether this book risks reinforcing that view. That said, many of the ideas are based on helpful principles. For example, ‘Family Night’ is a good reminder that godly parenting requires the investment of time with our children. The ‘bitesize’ structure of the chapters is designed for mums with limited time, although it sometimes makes for a slightly disjointed read. Oh, and I was left awed by Susan Richards’ creativity and imagination. Helen Lamb, © Evangelicals Now - April 2010 |