Faith at Home
by Jo Henry
I’m currently eight months pregnant with my second child, and – as is often the case when life-changing events are on the horizon – I’ve been reflecting on the experience of raising my daughter Alice over the past three years.
I remember those early months of visiting church with a newborn, and envisioning this life where she grew up loving Sunday School, knowing all her Bible stories and telling all her friends about Jesus in the playground.
Fast-forward 18 months (when she’s actually able to talk): the pandemic strikes. The rhythm of going to church and being surrounded by those she recognised worshipping was replaced by the three of us sitting on the sofa getting to grips with “online” community.
And yet – fast-forwarding another 18 months to the present – it would appear that Covid-19 hasn’t stopped Alice from experiencing a relationship with Jesus. Here’s three examples that remind me that simple things we do as a family have made a positive impact on a little girl’s growing faith::
Earlier this year, Alice became fully immersed in the Easter story. She was visibly saddened at the thought that this hero she’d be reading about had died. It’s so easy as parents to just read through the familiar story without pausing to dwell on the emotions of it, but the joy Alice experienced when she heard about the empty tomb and the risen Jesus was just amazing. In the weeks that followed Alice would often just shout out in the supermarket or whilst we were driving, “Jesus is NOT DEAD! He’s ALIVE! The tomb was EMPTY!” Whilst my cheeks would redden with embarrassment, here’s my two-year-old daughter preaching the gospel in the bread aisle.
Every evening before bed, we pray with Alice and ask her to give thanks for the best part of her day and to ask God to heal anyone we know is poorly. Since March, Alice has been praying every day for a family friend of ours with lymphoma, and during my first trimester she was praying I’d stop being sick. She got to experience first-hand me feeling better at home and so it was a great opportunity to talk about the power of prayer and remind her of all the stories in the Bible where Jesus heals people. She’s still praying for our friend with cancer, which is an amazing lesson early in life that we should never stop praying, even if nothing seems to be changing.
Finally, toddlers love to sing along to nursery rhymes.. How many of us know all the lyrics to a song we heard as a child but struggle to recall a Bible verse? We discovered a great kids worship song called “God Suit On” (Cheeky Pandas) which again has had Alice singing out in cafes and parks, “I’ve got the sword of the spirit, the shield of faith, the belt of truth around my waist”!
She may not have experienced church the way I did growing up, but she’s definitely learnt powerful truths about Jesus that will stay with her for the rest of her life. If I’m being honest, I imagine I would have relied heavily on the brilliant kids’ work at our church to teach Alice a lot of what she knows.
When the pandemic meant that that was no longer an option, something that at first was quite daunting has now become a real honour.
The instruction to go and make disciples of all nations starts in our own homes! As a parent, it’s my responsibility to disciple my kids, and Alice’s faith and boldness has also inspired and challenged me.
Jesus said:
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 19:14
Jo Henry
Jo Henry works at Together for Sheffield as Operations Director. She has been attending STC Sheffield (www.stthomascrookes.org) since her student days, and is expecting her second child in October with husband Simon. In her spare time she loves anything that revolves around food; eating it, cooking it and talking about it!
