For all of us who found Shepherding a Child’s Heart a helpful treatment on raising Christian children who live coram deo rather than as man-pleasers, Instructing a Child’s Heart is the natural (and long-awaited) follow-up. Pastor Tripp and his wife Margy wrote this book to help parents spend time giving formative instruction to their children.
It is crucial that parents impart a robust, biblical worldview to their children–a worldview large enough to meet the challenges of life and a worldview that convincingly speaks to the head and the heart. Children seek answers to the big questions: Who am I? What do I exist for? Where can I find joy? As parents, we need to provide our children with a consistent, persuasive, biblical framework for understanding the world God has made and their place in it.
In addition to forming our children’s minds, we need to direct their hearts. They need to be personally convinced that their greatest joy lies in knowing God and being known by Him. As parents, we serve as examples and guides, not for controlling our children, but for passing on the Faith so that our kids own it for themselves.
Tedd Tripp is the senior pastor of Grace Fellowship Church. He and his wife Margy have three adult children and seven grand-children. Tedd and Margy founded Immanuel Christian School in 1979 where Tedd has served as a teacher and administrator. Tedd and Margy still serve on the board of ICS.
The blurbs:
“The Tripp’s have once again written a book that will shape our children’s parenting style and will have direct impact on our grandchildren. Instructing a Child’s Heart will help them avoid all the behavioristic manipulation and threatenings that sadly marked our parenting and is seen so frequently in our churches. I heartily recommend it. ”
– Elyse Fitzpatrick, author of Idols of the Heart: Learning to Long for God Alone
“If you are (as I am) one of the hundreds of thousands who have found Shepherding a Child’s Heart helpful and insightful, then you will likewise profit from Instructing a Child’s Heart. The Tripps have a gift for presenting biblical truth about parenting in ways that are practical, God-centered, Gospel-driven, and compassionate. If you need help and hope in the raising of your children—and what parent doesn’t—read this book. ”
– Donald S. Whitney, author of Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, professor of Biblical Spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
“Biblical. Practical. Pastoral. This insightful book on godly childrearing is everything we would expect from the author who brought us Shepherding a Child’s Heart. Its tremendous value comes from the fact that it centers on the essential but oft neglected heart of biblical parenting: the Gospel of grace. I am glad to recommend it.”
– John MacArthur, Pastor-Teacher, Grace Community Church