This past Sunday we talked about building a foundation on God. Below is an article from the Parent Cue app to help you do this with your teens:

HOW DO I DEVELOP FAITH IN MY TEEN? (Full article here)

I grew up as a preacher’s kid. My parents made a couple of things clear:

1. They wanted me to read the Bible.
2. They wanted me to memorize Scripture.

So they did what any sensible parents would do to develop those habits in me . . .

They paid me.

• They paid me every time I read through the Bible.
• They paid me every time I memorized a Bible verse.
• And they paid me every time I read a Christian book.

Yes, they did this even when I was a teenager and was desperate for gas money for my Volkswagen Jetta! It must’ve been because they had so much money. Nope. Look back at the first line: I grew up as a preacher’s kid!

My parents wanted me to know God better. They did things that a lot of parents do: they made me go to church, and they prayed with me before school in the morning. But ultimately, they understood that there were some tools I needed that were bigger than listening to someone pray or teach a lesson (although both of those are great).

Now that I’m a parent, I make no judgments on their decision. But for the sake of this blog, let’s talk about some other ways we can develop faith skills in our teenagers (Although, if you want to bribe them with cash and skip the rest of this post, be my guest!).

First, let’s be honest about a couple of things:

1. It’s difficult for us to develop and maintain these habits in our own lives. There are some of you reading this who’ve never ever missed a day of praying or reading your Bible in your entire life. That’s awesome!

For the rest of us, there are seasons where we’re killing it in this area, and seasons when we ride the struggle bus.

2. It’s a tough sell. I’ve spent A LOT of time working with teenagers. And trying to convince a teenage guy to pray to an invisible God or read a hard-to-understand book instead of video gaming, playing any sport, or simply napping . . .

Yeah, that’s NOT an easy sell. No, really. It’s not.

I tell you these things to take some pressure off of you thinking your teenager will become an overnight theologian. And also because I want you to eliminate the idea of thinking you can nag and pressure your teenager into becoming a highly-motivated pursuer of faith skills....(Read the rest and the 7 Tips here.)