Family Discipleship Blog
11/25/2020

Book Review: Family Discipleship: Leading your Home through Time, Moments, and Milestones

Matt Chandler and Adam Griffin recently wrote a book titled Family Discipleship: Leading your Home through Time, Moments, and Milestones. I found the book to be balanced, helpful and encouraging. The book is also incredibly practical in nature. Chandler and Griffin offer a host of ideas on how parents can be intentional about helping their children follow Jesus.

One strength of the book is that, while Chandler and Griffin offer many suggestions about family discipleship, they recognize that in practice, family discipleship may look different in every home. The book is not written as a prescription that will guarantee children grow up to love and follow Jesus. Rather, the book provides a framework for helping parents build family discipleship into the normal rhythms of life.

The framework consists of three concepts: time, moments, and milestones. The authors present Family Discipleship Time as “…intentional time built into the rhythm of the family’s life for the purpose of thinking about, talking about, and living out the gospel.” Family Discipleship Moments involve “capturing and leveraging opportunities in the course of everyday life for the purpose of gospel-centered conversations.” Family Discipleship Milestones involve “marking and making occasions to celebrate and commemorate significant spiritual milestones of God’s work in the life of the family and child.”

Throughout the book, Chandler and Griffin offer suggestions and tools to help parents implement each piece of the framework. For example, the book provides helpful planning calendars, reflection questions for parents, a comprehensive list of questions to help parents engage the hearts of their children, and more. The authors also offer examples of practices they have implemented in their own homes.

Aside from the practical nature of the book, it is also an encouragement to parents. For example, in the conclusion of the book, Chandler and Griffin offer hope to parents saying, “When it comes to family discipleship, low-hanging fruit is
everywhere. You do not need to create amazing productions or have an archive of profound insights at the ready. Family discipleship does not have to be intricate or complicated. You just need a willingness to focus on the child who is in front of
you, and together focus on the God who is everywhere.” If you are a parent looking for some direction and ideas in your approach to family discipleship, I would commend this book to you.

Book Give-a-way: The first parent to email me requesting a copy of the book will receive one free.

Chad Holmgren
Family and Children’s Ministry Pastor