Malisa listened as her daughter, Sydney, related what happened on the bus home from a children’s activity. She and her new friend, Ayla, started talking about Jesus. Sydney realized it was an open door and asked the questions her mother had taught her to use to share her faith. Malisa’s heart skipped a beat when Sydney told how she led Ayla in a prayer to give her life to Jesus. As Malisa and her daughter hugged each other in reciprocal affirmation, Malisa thanked God for helping her to raise a faith-sharing child.

While Christian parents desire that their children make personal decisions to follow Christ, often parents forget to take that prayer to the next step: to pray that they become faith-sharing children. Since there is no formula to make sure that a faith transfer becomes an ongoing circle, it is important that parents find as many ways as possible to influence and direct the process. Here are ten ways you can be involved in raising a faith-sharing child:

1. Commit to the vision that you can raise a faith-sharing child. Vision is more than a future goal you work toward. It embodies the passion it takes to get you there. Many parents put a great deal of time and effort into supporting and encouraging their children in educational, athletic, or career pursuits while giving very little attention to encouraging their pursuit of God, godliness, and a desire to share their faith. Vision puts you in the marathon. As a parent you are running with the baton, but it is absolutely necessary to pass the baton on to the next runner, your child. Spend time praying and connecting to the vision God has for you and your family

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

2. Develop a focus that makes sharing your faith a priority. It is very easy to focus on daily events and give them our priority instead of recognizing the bigger picture. GPA’s and SAT’s have their place, but they can easily distract our focus from larger matters. In order to make raising fully devoted followers of Christ our priority, we need a focus that helps us pay attention to everything in our children’s lives that give them an opportunity to share their faith. We need to be ready to show them how their relationship with Christ is just as important on the athletic field or at a party as it is in Sunday school. It is our focus that helps sharpen this picture.

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33).

3. Establish family habits that lead to faith-sharing. One of the most effective ways to encourage your children to share their faith is to have regular family devotional times. During these times, set aside a special time for each family member to report any witnessing opportunities. Celebrate every attempt to take advantage of openings. Use the time to share with your children where you have been asking God to use your witness. Talk about the times your own heart flutters with excitement or fear. Talk about the openings God makes. Talk about the missed opportunities and how you felt about them. This kind of conversation helps your children to understand that becoming a faithful witness is a matter of growth.

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

4. Help your children use life’s challenges as witnessing opportunities. Use your own life experiences as they happen to demonstrate this for your children. Perhaps the challenge is a financial setback, a hospital stay, or a job loss. Respond to these trials with Christ-likeness and the desire to share Christ’s love with others. It will go a long way towards teaching your children how to use their own challenges to share how faith in God makes a difference.

Jesus said, “But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life (John 9:2).

5. Prepare your children to share their faith as a way to build confidence. When your children keep up with homework and diligently study for a test, they can approach the test with confidence. The same is true with sharing your faith. We can help our children clear the fear hurdle by preparing them to share their faith. It is part of the “homework” that enables them to approach a witnessing opportunity with confidence. There are books, seminars and helpful methods that you can investigate to take some of the unknown out of sharing your faith. Role play with possible school conversations. Memorize helpful scriptures as a family project. Anything that reduces fear will increase confidence.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

6. Model what you want your child to learn. A father teaches his boy to catch a ball by heading out to the yard with mitts and ball. A mother passes down a family recipe by showing her daughter how to prepare it. Children learn how to share their faith in the same way. They need someone to demonstrate it for them. If they don’t see and hear examples of how you are attempting to share Christ’s love with others, they will never believe that it is a priority – no matter how much you emphasize its importance.

The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him (Proverbs 20:7).

7. Affirm the Kingdom potential each child has to offer. Kingdom potential. Every child of God has it! God has given each of His children different gifts and abilities. He went to great lengths in Scripture to emphasize the importance of each gift. By doing this, God modeled to all parents how to affirm uniqueness and significance. Be sure to take notice of your children’s talents and gifts. Communicate with them about how they can use their talents and gifts in the Kingdom of God. They do not have to have the gift of evangelism to share their faith. They just need to find their part in bringing others to Christ.

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body (Romans 12:4).

8. Pray regularly for those who do not know Jesus. It is vital that your children develop a compassion for those who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. Use every prayer time as an occasion to develop this compassion: mealtime, bedtime, family prayer times and impromptu times. Pray for people by name and need. Pray for friends, relatives, teachers, and neighbors. It will remind you as well as your children that there are witnessing opportunities that surround you daily. What may start as an “ought to pray” soon becomes a “have to pray.”

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved (Romans 10:1).

9. Encourage your children to invite their friends to outreach events. Children love to bring a friend to anything. Encourage their “bringer” instinct by suggesting that they bring their friends to church outreach events. Teach them how they can be just like the disciples who brought people to Jesus for healing and teaching. They can bring their friends to hear about Jesus. Help them choose the events that share a clear presentation of the gospel. Talk about ways they can pray for, prepare for, and follow up their time together at the event. Commit the results to Christ and encourage them never to stop bringing their friends to hear about Jesus.

The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah.” And he brought him to Jesus (John 14:41-42).

10. Celebrate every step of obedience. Every step of obedience is a step that brings someone closer to God. Don’t just celebrate the end result when someone prays to receive Christ. Celebrate each step of the journey, especially when it appears your children may not see the outcome. Emphasize obedience as the goal. Remind them often that when the most we do is plant the seed, it is enough. God is in charge of the harvest. We are simply the field hands.

He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects Him who sent me (Luke 10:16).

It should be clear from this list that the best way to raise a faith-sharing child is to be a faith-sharing parent. Nothing else will encourage the vision, the focus, the prayer or the obedience more than your own commitment to faith-sharing as a way of life.

Ask Malisa what she did to raise a faith-sharing child and she’ll tell you the same thing.

Reprinted with permission of On Mission, flagship magazine of the North American Mission Board, SBC.