I was blessed to be raised by four different parental figures who were all Christians. My mother taught Sunday School and played the organ at Olivet Presbyterian Church, a little congregation in San Francisco where my dad pastored. Shortly after we moved to San Anselmo, we began attending First Presbyterian, just down the hill from the seminary where my dad taught.
Unfortunately, my mother soon passed away from cancer and my paternal grandmother came to take care of us while my dad worked. Her idea of the Christian walk was to become very involved in a women’s group that included putting on plays for the congregation. She was a strict disciplinarian but also very loving. She supported my dad as he led us in devotions and made sure we knew our memory verses.
When I was 10, my dad remarried and we got to know our new step-mother. She was the daughter of a Presbyterian pastor and began teaching an adult Sunday School class after the worship service. She also taught political science at the College of Marin. She was very musical, as was my dad, so family sing-alongs of hymns and worship songs were a common Friday night activity.
The point of saying all this is to underscore the importance of bringing children up in the Christian faith. Although my husband is not a believer, I brought our two boys up in church. Even though they are not active in the church at this time, I know that they have a foundation in the faith and hopefully will become involved as time goes on. I am reminded of the Bible verse:
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 RSV
Consider those in your life that you can help train up in the Lord. God wants to use you to pour into their lives and build a foundation for faith in Christ.