How to Faithfully Steward Our Children

What does it mean to steward our children, and how do we do it? There’s a lot that could be (and has been) said about this, but here are the general steps we need to take to faithfully steward our kids.

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Over the past several months, I’ve been working on applying a mindset of stewardship to every area of my life. (Tony Evans’ book Kingdom Stewardship was an excellent resource for this.) It has transformed the way I approach my finances, my time, my skills…

And my parenting.

I want my parenting to be about more than just my own enjoyment, comfort, and accomplishments. More than what makes me feel good or look good. I want it to be about more than me. More than my kids, even!

I want the driving force behind my parenting to be God’s Kingdom. I want my primary motivation to be doing what I can to raise Kingdom soldiers and servants.

In other words, I want to faithfully steward my children.

What does it mean to steward our children, and how do we do it? There’s a lot that could be (and has been) said about this, but following are some general ways to faithfully steward our kids.

What Does It Mean to “Steward” Our Children?

First, though, let’s talk about what it means to “steward” our children. Have you ever thought about parenting in this way?

Basically, stewarding our children means recognizing the following three things:

Our kids are not ours to do with as we please – they belong to God. We are the temporary managers, not the owners.
We have been entrusted with these precious gifts not only for our own pleasure and enjoyment, but also to develop, grow, and prepare them for God’s Kingdom.
Our end goal is to release them back to God for His good purposes, and we will be held accountable for what we did with them while they were in our care.

In Matthew 25, Jesus gives us a great illustration of stewardship in the Parable of the Talents. If you are not familiar with this passage, look it up and give it a read before we continue. While the parable speaks of financial stewardship, the basic principles can be applied to ALL areas of life, including our parenting.

How to Faithfully Steward Our Children

Now that we have a general sense of what it means to steward our children, let’s talk about how we do it. There are MANY ways we can steward our children, but here are the five general steps we need to take:

1. Know the Owner

Before we can even begin to steward our children, we need to know God and actively seek to follow Him in our own lives. Why is this necessary? First, because we are naturally better stewards for an owner we know and trust. Second, because we will only know what He wants us to do with our kids if we know His Word and will.

2. Recognize our role

Secondly, we have to realize our kids have been entrusted to us for a purpose. We have to recognize we have an important job to do and appreciate, cherish, and respect it.

Until we think about our parenting in this way, we will not be intentional about stewarding it well. And when we understand what an enormous responsibility we’ve been entrusted with, we will more quickly and frequently seek God’s wisdom and direction in raising our kids.

3. Point them to Christ

One of our most important jobs as Christian parents is to point our kids to Christ. While we are NOT responsible for their salvation (only they can make that choice, and only God can change their hearts), we ARE responsible for our teaching.

Stewarding our children well, therefore, involves:

Doing everything we can to make sure they know who they ultimately belong to.
Teaching them about their true identity, what Christ did for them, and how deeply they are loved.
Continually reminding them they have a God-given purpose, and helping them walk it out.
Establishing a foundation of faith on which they can continue to build throughout their lives.

Need specific, practical help doing this? Check out my posts, “How to Make a Family Discipleship Plan” and “5 Powerful Ways to Nurture Your Kids’ Faith.”

4. Grow and develop them

When stewarding our children, it’s not enough to just keep them “safe.” That’s not our job description. We were tasked with nurturing, growing, and developing them. With purpose, diligence, and perseverance.

And yes, that involves some risk, but we have to be willing to take it. The third servant in the talents parable buried his portion out of fear, and as a result, it did not grow. How did his master respond? He called him wicked and slothful! I don’t know about you, but those are definitely not words I want God to use about my parenting. I want Him to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Related Post:
5 Prayers to Combat Mom Fear

5. Be willing to let go

This is the final step, and quite possibly the hardest. But it is a crucial one. As I said in the previous section, stewarding our children involves realizing they do not belong to us. We are merely the temporary caretakers.

Therefore, after we have invested in them, nurtured them, and cultivated them the best we can, we have to be willing to let them go. We must always hold them with open hands, ready to return them to their Owner to use as He pleases. Because, after all, preparing them for useful purpose is the ultimate goal.

SHARE WITH US: What do you think? Have you ever thought about stewarding your children, and what do you think it involves? I’d love to hear anything you have to add to the conversation in the comments below!