Parenting by God’s Promises: How to Raise Children in the Covenant of Grace by Joel Beeke

Reformation Trust.  d.w.  345pp.

Parents are unable to give their children what they need most—new hearts that trust in Christ for forgiveness of sins. All belief is a work of God alone. But parents must not “hinder” their children from coming to Christ, as Jesus’ disciples sought to hinder mothers and fathers from bringing small children to Him (Mark 10:13–16). On the contrary, they must do everything in their power to “bring” their children to the Savior, which means raising their sons and daughters in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).

In Parenting by God’s Promises: How to Raise Children in the Covenant of Grace, Dr. Joel R. Beeke explores what this nurture and admonition looks like and offers gems of practical wisdom for parents on topics such as instituting and leading family worship, teaching children, modeling faithful Christian living, and exercising discipline. However, he carefully puts parental responsibilities in their proper perspective and guides mothers and fathers to lean not on their own abilities but to trust more fully in the God who knits children together in the first place. Above all, he affirms, parents must look to the one true God, who promises to provide everything His people need and to bless them and their families.

Table of Contents:

Foreword by Derek W.H. Thomas

Introduction: Parenting with a Strong Hope

Part One: Covenantal Foundations for Parenting

1. Encouragement through the Covenant

2. Children of the Covenant

3. Rearing Children by Faith

4. The Covenant Promise

5. Bringing Children to Christ

Part Two: Parenting as Prophets, Priests, and Kings

6. Our Responsibility as Parents

7. Teaching Our Children as Prophets

8. What Should We Teach Our Children?

9. Training in Godly Living

10. Serving as Priests in the Home

11. Sympathizing with Our Children

12. Exercising Loving Rule as Kings

13. Preventive Discipline

14. Corrective Discipline

Part Three: Practical Steps for Child-Rearing

15. Help from Our Puritan Forebears

16. Teaching Children Piety

17. Teaching Children to Listen

18. Taming Children’s Tongues

19. Handling Sibling Relationships

Part Four: Practical Helps for Teenagers

20. Helping Teenagers Discern God’s Will

21. Helping Teenagers Resist Negative Peer Pressure

22. Helping Teenagers Manage Anger

Conclusion: To a Thousand Generations

Appendix 1: Cotton Mather’s Parental Resolutions

Appendix 2: Children in the Church