On his car ride home from Youth, an eleventh-grade boy—normally quiet— would not stop talking about the teaching on apologetics from that night. He felt like he gained the confidence to have more conversations about faith more frequently to others. He felt like he had a more sure foundation for the faith that he has. He was excited to share what he had learned. 

A six-year-old girl is going to her dad and saying, “Dad! I can say the first 10 books of the Bible!” And then proceeds to rapidly list them off. 

A three-year-old, when asked who loves him most, confidently says, “God.”

While these three interactions range vastly in the maturity of the person and the difficulty of the subject, they prove the same thing: Kids learn when they are taught. Well, actually, maybe a better way to phrase that would be: Kids learn what they are taught. 

This, quite obvious, reality is what has been shaping some of the changes that we’ve been making in our Family Ministry this year. Come to church on a typical Wednesday night and you’ll see some of the usual happenings of a youth group. You’ll see kids eating pizza, teenagers catching up on their week, and the random boy licking the floor (yes, this happened). But you’ll also see something unique. You’ll see 7-8th graders learning about the structure and makeup of the Bible. You’ll see 9-10th graders learning about Christian hedonism and how all of life is all about God’s glory and how their greatest joy is found in God being glorified. You’ll find juniors and seniors learning high-level apologetics, how to share the gospel, and a breakdown of the covenants found in scripture. 

And guess what? They love it. They are coming excited to learn. Excited to take notes. Excited to stretch their brains. 

Jump into a kids classroom on a Sunday morning and you’ll see way more than kids simply playing games and hearing a Bible story. You’ll see a teacher singing a song she wrote to help kids learn our Simple Truths memory verses. You’ll see a crew of kids line up to the back wall to recite a memory verse for their teacher. Sure, there is a prize involved, but kids are learning important truths. You’ll go into the large-group gathering where you’ll hear a teacher connect the stories of the Bible to the gospel. Then, as you make your way back to class, you’ll get to see kids work on memorizing all the books of the Bible. 

Here’s what I’ve come to notice: Kids will be excited about learning what you’re excited about. And I’m excited about the ways we’ve intentionally focused on what we are teaching our kids and teenagers at Veritas. 

But this isn’t just to help you know what we’re doing to teach and equip kids at Veritas. I’m glad you know, and I hope you get just as excited about it as we are! This is to remind you that your kids are watching to see what you’re excited about and they are going to learn to be excited about what excites you. 

They are going to learn about the Hawkeyes because they see you excited about the Hawks. They are going to learn how to make brownies with you because you’re excited to eat brownies. They are going to learn—or at least observe—how to replace the spark plugs in your car because you’re excited to change the spark plugs in your car (maybe excited is the wrong emotion there, but you get the picture). Your kids will learn about what you’re excited about, because what we are excited about flows out. 

Are you excited about the right things? Are you excited about the most important things? Are you excited to teach them the most important things?

So, are you excited about teaching them the truths of scripture? Are you excited about helping them learn answers to foundational questions of the faith? Are you excited to help them learn how to use their Bible? Are you excited about teaching them logical reasons for the faith you hold? As parents, we have to be more excited about the spiritual formation of our kids happening at home than we are about the spiritual formation happening at church. Yes, what we teach at the church is important, but what they learn in the home is irreplaceable. 

What you need to help them learn these irreplaceable truths isn’t a better curriculum, but rather getting more excited and passionate about their spiritual formation than you are about Sportscenter, sourdough, and Netflix. They need to see that you don’t just care about your faith but that you love God and are excited about the things of God. 

When they watch you, what are they learning about the Bible? What are they learning about participation and engagement at church? What are they learning about prayer? What are they learning about displaying fruit of the Spirit? What are we communicating about the most important things in life? Are we communicating that they are worth learning? 

Let’s be parents who are excited not just about what our kids are learning at church, but excited to teach them about the One we love the most in our homes.