Sharing Your Faith with Your Grandchildren

I’ve had a lot of endearing titles in my nearly 60 years of life. From dad, to coach, to pastor, and my all-time favorite from my bride of nearly 35 years, “hon.”

But five years ago I added a title to my resume that I have cherished and embraced with full force – “PaPa.”

Our oldest son and his wife made us grandparents for the first time in 2020, and it’s all that we had been promised and more! From hearing Walker call me PaPa with bright eyes of affection, stumbling into my arms for a seat on my lap, and helping me make scrambled eggs together at family gatherings, it has exceeded my expectations. We now have two grandchildren with a third on the way in a few months!

But as with most things in life, with this privilege comes great responsibility. From the beginning of this new season my wife and I have constantly tried to clarify our roles as PaPa and MiMi.

While we desire to be grandparents who provide extras and make special memories, more than anything we want to help their parents make disciples of Jesus Christ. So it’s important for us to establish and remember some ways for this to happen as we have opportunity, all while honoring our son and daughter-in-law’s primary responsibility to lead their own family. Here are a few goals we seek by God’s grace to accomplish when we’re together.

Be a Faithful Role Model

The stereotypical grandparent is characterized as the ones who show up, break all the family rules, spoil the children, and hit the road, leaving the parents to pick up the pieces. While there are humorous aspects to this idea, most new and young parents don’t need more obstacles, especially coming from within the house!

Practically, we gain the permission from the parents before providing a gift or special treat, to make sure it’s not un-doing an initiative they are working through in discipling the child. After all, my greatest legacy is not what I leave for my grandchildren – but what I leave in them. Therefore the greatest gifts we can give are examples of living out our faith daily through prayer, kindness, and integrity.

It’s important for us to let our grandchildren see us reading our Bibles, attending worship together, and expressing a trust in God for all circumstances. I was diagnosed with cancer when Walker was one year old, so I cherished every moment I had to hold him and spend time with him. And while he had no way of understanding the weight of uncertainty in my mind during that part of my journey, I often expressed to him my love for God and trust in His care of me.

Pray For and With Your Grandchildren

Secondly, the greatest way I can serve our children in raising our grandchildren is to pray for them. This is not necessarily what comes to mind when I think of the most significant contribution in their lives, but living 600 miles away this has become the most practical and daily opportunity to serve them.

I pray daily for them, asking for God’s guidance and protection over their lives, and that their minds and hearts would be open to the Gospel at precisely the right time. I also try to let them know periodically through a brief video or when we facetime that I prayed for them and thinking about them.

But on those special occasions 2 or 3 times a year when we are together, I take advantage of times to pray with them when possible. Before a special grandparent outing to Chick fil-a, or an adventure to the toy store, or even a fun snack that we are going to share together, it’s important to express gratitude and dependence to our Creator and Sustainer through prayer. Among other things, it also encourages them to bring their worries and joys to God.

Help Them Understand Faith Through Stories and Resources

Grandparents have been known to tell stories about “the good ‘ol days” from time to time, and that’s important. In reality, though, this is more beneficial and therapeutic for the grandparent than the grandchild.

However, telling them about how God has worked in your life is instructive and beneficial for both. My role as a grandparent isn’t just to tell stories of my past, but to share the greatest story ever told—God’s love and redemption.

Use story time together to share testimonies of answered prayers, struggles you’ve overcome, and the importance of trusting God. Make Bible stories come alive by relating them to real-life experiences with proper application.

This past Christmas I was able to give Walker a couple of stones I picked up from the Elah Valley in Israel. As I relayed the abbreviated story of David’s defeat of Goliath from the Old Testament, I was able to encourage him to let these stones remind him to trust in the promises of God.

I admit it’s fun to be the provider of fun gifts at special occasions like Christmas and birthdays, but the most important thing we can do is provide them with Christian books, devotionals, and resources suited for their age along the way.

There’s so much more than just being the fun, spoiling, rule-breaking, old adults in the room when it comes to being Christian grandparents. It’s a great responsibility with lasting impact as we serve and share in this journey with their parents.

The best use of our time with them may be more than just making memories for our own benefit, but in planting seeds of faith in their hearts, while trusting God to make them flourish. Being a Christian grandparent means guiding with wisdom, loving with grace, and pointing every step toward Jesus.

“We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.” (Psalm 78:4)