“Parents play the single most important role in passing on the faith to the next generation.”
This decisive statement comes from the 2026 research “Passing on the Torch,” by The Institute for Family Studies.
Christian parents are to pass on their Christian faith to their children. They are to pass on faith that is biblical, valued, and practiced. But, there is so much that parents are competing with each day! Both adults and children feel the pressure to engage in social media, electronics, and activities that pull them away from family time. Schools might not present values that align with God’s ways and churches may present a faith only as a veneer.
What other group can make an impact? The family! Parents are the necessary, personal mode for passing on faith that matters, faith that grows, and faith that is applied.
Have you noticed how the farther you get from an experience with God, the less impact you may recall from it? God knows this happens and he even had Moses address it. He told parents to pass on to their children the truth and the ways of God. And, several thousand years after Moses spoke the wisdom of this to the Israelites, we still need to be reminded of what God has already put forth.
Directives for parents to impress God’s commands on their children’s hearts and minds, and talk about them regularly, is given by Moses in Deuteronomy 6:6-7. God’s laws were to guide their thoughts and their actions, demonstrating their faith. Parents would be modeling the value of and obedience to God.
About 400 years after the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, a Levitical worship leader named Asaph offered similar encouragement. We read in Psalm 78:1-7, “Give ear O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth… I will utter… things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments” (ESV).
Parents who exercise their faith – put it into practice – project the opposite of ‘do as I say, not as I do.’ Actions speak louder than words, but words that align with godly actions speak wonders and yield impact. Parent-led discipleship prepares the soil of a child’s soul for the gospel to take root and faith to grow.
Do you know a family, perhaps your own, who wants to disciple their children but needs some encouragement or guidance? A Do LAPS! workbook, complete with parent guide, offers an engaging, doable way to teach children faith, to apply God’s truths, and to connect face to face – parent and child.
Passing on faith in God is worth it!
Order Do LAPS! or Do LAPS! Volume 2 today to make an impact on tomorrow.