Gospel Parenting: Holding Fast to Timeless Truths
Join us Saturday April 25, 2026 for the second annual Parenting Conference for the families of Grace Community Church, focused on the theme “Gospel Parenting: Holding Fast to Timeless Truths.”
Registration for Parenting Conference 2026 will begin mid-January. To be notified when registration opens, sign up for conference updates.
“God’s truth abideth still.” These words belong to Martin Luther’s well-known hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Luther’s hope in all the attacks from the world and the Roman Church was that God’s truth would continue to abide and triumph over all. This reminds us that God’s truth is timeless, and that whatever culture, time period, or crisis you may be in, God’s truth continues to abide and be sufficient for all your needs.
As parents, it is vital that we do not get so focused on current trends in parenting that we forget the timeless truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ that provides the only firm footing in every age. We desperately need to learn to hold fast to this truth and not be swayed by whatever goes on around us. What does it look like to parent in a way that is shaped by the gospel? In sum, the gospel provides the foundation, strength, and goal of biblical parenting.
It provides the foundation because biblical parenting is impossible if you have not first been transformed by the gospel. When God saves you, He makes you into a new creation and gives you the Holy Spirit who is constantly helping you to follow Christ. How can you raise your children to be followers of Christ if you are not one first? Is your walk with the Lord what shapes your life? If it is, you will want nothing more than to parent in a way that pleases Christ. The gospel must be the foundation of your life.
The gospel also provides the strength for biblical parenting. This is encouraging because parenting is a task beyond our strength. Parenting never stops and it can be exhausting—spiritually and physically. It can be all the more exhausting and discouraging if we get so caught up in trying to do parenting right that we forget what God intends our weakness to teach us. Remember what Christ said to Paul when he asked for his thorn in the flesh to be taken away: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). When Christ saves us, He does not leave us to ourselves for our sanctification. Rather, because of our union with Him, He is the vine, and we are the branches (John 15:1–17). Apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). If we abide in Him, we will grow in bearing fruit for Him. As we look to Jesus, the “author and perfector of our faith,” we are strengthened to run the race of the Christian life. Our parenting cannot be an exception to this principle. It must be strengthened by Christ and our relationship with Him.
Finally, the gospel provides the goal of parenting. Why are we here on this earth? The Great Commission (Matt 28:18–20) makes it clear: we are here to make disciples of Christ. For parents, our most important mission field is our children. We cannot save our children. Only Jesus can. But the Holy Spirit is pleased to use faithful parenting as the environment where countless children are saved. If “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17), should we not ensure that our homes are filled with the word of Christ? Should we not only strive to have the word of Christ heard but also lived in the home? Our children should know that there is nothing more important than their soul’s relationship to Christ. J. C. Ryle says in The Duties of Parents, “To pet and pamper and indulge your child, as if this world was all he had to look to, and this life the only season for happiness—to do this is not true love but cruelty…. It is hiding from him that grand truth, which he ought to be made to learn from his very infancy, that the chief end of his life is the salvation of his soul.” Parenting is not about behavioral modification. It is about reaching their heart and soul through holding the gospel high in your home.
In a life and culture filled with change, it can be tempting to think that parenting must change. But the truth is that, while the context in which we raise children has changed much in the last 100 years, the biblical principles of parenting have not changed. It is essential to our parenting that we hold fast to the timeless truths of Scripture which are rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ.