Make Faith Real for Your Children

You are sitting on the porch with your six-year-old daughter on a summer evening. The sun is low, the scent of cut grass lingers in the air, and she is enjoying a rapidly melting popsicle. She suddenly stops mid-lick.

“How do I know God is real if I can’t see Him?”

It is the kind of question that makes time stand still. You want to give a good answer—one that is honest and helpful—but the word faith feels too big for her right now.

As moms and dads, we want to teach our children about God. We know it matters. But between school runs, laundry piles and everything else, it can feel hard to know where to start. And when big spiritual questions come out of nowhere, like this one, we can feel caught off guard.

The good news is that children are already built to believe. While their world is shaped by what they can see and touch, that is exactly where faith can begin.

For a child, faith can be defined as believing that God keeps His promises.

Hebrews 11:6 says knowing God exists is tied to believing He rewards those who seek Him. When a child learns to trust that God keeps His word, they are already learning to believe He is real and involved in their life.

Jesus Christ understood the heart of a child. When the disciples asked who was greatest in the Kingdom, He called a child over and said, “Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).

Young kids are naturally trusting and teachable. We do not have to force these qualities, as they are already there. Our role is to gently guide and grow what God has started. Through simple stories and small actions, we can begin painting a picture of faith they can recognize—one brushstroke at a time.

Start with Bible Tools

As much as we love our children, we are still human. Whether your day has involved a marathon of meetings, making meals, or just managing meltdowns, a hectic schedule can wear you thin. And in those moments, intentionally teaching our kids about faith often gets pushed aside—especially if we are unsure where to begin.

Let’s be real—if we wait until we are more rested, confident, or have more time, that day may never come.

Yet we have all likely heard our Pastor General David C. Pack’s four great rules of child-rearing: “(1) Teach! (2) Teach! (3) Teach! (4) Teach your children absolutely everything they need to know!”

In his book Train Your Children God’s Way, Mr. Pack uses the word teach (in all forms) 301 times. Teaching our children about faith in God may be the most important teaching of all.

To make this happen, we must teach deliberately—even when we are tired. Thankfully, we have many tools that help. The Church provides two wonderful primary resources.

The Story of the Bible: This seven-volume set brings the Old Testament to life in a way children can understand. You can start reading to your child at any age—even if they fall asleep, they are still building a foundation in God’s Word.

Once they can read, let them read it to you. You will strengthen their reading skills and their spiritual knowledge. And as you revisit the stories, you may find your own understanding refreshed, too.

The Story of the Bible is plain and easy to follow. When you dig into these volumes with your kids, you are not just teaching that God keeps His promises—you are building memories they will carry for life.

Children’s Bible Lessons: Aimed at ages 5 to 12, Children’s Bible Lesson workbooks grow more advanced with each level. Your minister will provide the schedule, but the impact comes from how we use them as parents.

Look for small ways to make these lessons stick. Reach out to other parents for ideas. For example, one mom reviews memory verses with her kids at the bus stop. Another family turns Friday review time into a cozy snack-filled routine.

If we treat the lessons like chores, our kids will too. But if we keep things light and consistent, they will begin to look forward to studying God’s Word. The habits they build today can strengthen their faith into their teen years and beyond.

Make It Visible

Our kids are always watching. Their curious little eyes and ears pick up more than we realize—and that curiosity is a built-in opportunity to show them what faith looks like in real life.

Faith does not just grow through lessons. It grows through living examples—what they see, hear and experience with us. Here are a few simple, colorful ways to help faith take root.

Nature Walks: Sometimes the best lessons happen when we step outside. A ladybug crawling on a shirt, a tree stretching toward the sky, or sunlight dancing on water all become moments to point to the Creator who made them for us to enjoy (I Tim. 6:17).

When a bird flutters overhead, you can remind them that God watches over even the sparrows—and cares even more about us (Matt. 10:29-31). These quiet walks become moving classrooms.

Games and Activities: Faith can grow through play and activities. Try planting a mustard seed together (Matt. 17:20). As it slowly sprouts, talk about how faith takes time to grow—and how we water it by trusting God and staying close to Him (Heb. 6:12).

Try a “trust fall.” Have your child close their eyes and fall backward into your arms. Then explain Proverbs 3:5, which says trusting God means leaning on Him completely, even when we cannot see what comes next.

You could also turn off the lights and use a flashlight to navigate the room. Show them how light helps us walk in the dark and how God’s Word does the same (Psa. 119:105).

Fun moments like these are memory builders—helping faith move from an idea to something your child can touch, feel and remember.

Roleplaying Stories: Act out Bible stories together. Turn the couch into Noah’s Ark and fill it with stuffed animals. Let them be David and Goliath—Dad, you might make a great Goliath! If you have more than one child, let them rotate roles. Then ask questions like, “What helped David be brave?”

Even the parables can come alive. Bandage a teddy bear like the Good Samaritan. Pretend to search high and low for the “lost sheep.” When it is found, celebrate with cheers.

These little moments do not need to be perfect or elaborate. They just need to be sincere. And they will stick—because they help children feel the faith behind the stories.

Let It Be Heard

Children absorb what they hear. The prayers you speak, the hymns you sing and the stories you share become the quiet soundtrack of their childhood. Over time, those sounds shape how they talk to God, how they think about Him and how much they trust His promises.

Prayer: Let them hear you pray. Not just at bedtime or before meals, but when they are nervous before school, when something goes wrong or when someone is sick. These moments show that God is real, personal and near.

When they hear you turn to Him first, they learn what it looks like to believe He hears and rewards those who seek Him (Heb. 11:6).

And when they pray—listen closely. Celebrate answered prayers, even the small ones. When the answer is “no,” help them see what God may be doing instead. Let them see that prayer is more than words—it involves trust.

Teach them that prayer is like talking to a loving parent or friend. They do not need fancy words. As I Chronicles 28:9 says, God “understands the motive behind every thought” (Common English Bible). Even if they do not know what to say, God understands the “why.”

Hymns: Music sticks with us. The hymns we sing can become anchors—melodies that carry truth and comfort.

Try swapping out a silly song for a hymn now and then. Let your kids pick their favorite. When they hear it during Sabbath services and their eyes light up, you will see how these small investments take root.

And one day, when life gets hard, it may be that very hymn they sing to themselves.

Share Your Stories: Children love stories about people they know and love. Your life is full of quiet moments that prove God keeps His promises. Share them.

They do not all need to be big miracles. A time God helped you find something lost, or provided what you needed just in time, can make Him feel real in their world. Little moments help build trust.

As they grow, share the harder stories too—times when things did not make sense, but you prayed and God brought you through. These accounts will stay with them. They show that faith is not just for the good days, but for stormy ones too.

Live It in Front of Them

The most powerful way to teach faith is to consistently model it to your children.

Let them see what it looks like to trust God with real-life challenges. If something hard comes up—a financial concern, a scary illness or when a storm knocks the power out—invite your children into the moment. Pray with them. Talk through the situation and explain what you are asking God to do. Point out the calm that comes from placing it in His hands.

Make each hardship a teaching moment. It helps if they hear you say aloud what you are thinking inside: “I don’t know how this will work out, but I know God will take care of us.” Or you can quote a verse that is helping comfort you: “Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you” (I Pet. 5:7).

As much as possible, share what is appropriate for their age and maturity. A younger child does not need to carry the weight of an adult problem—but they can be shown how faith works. Explain just enough for them to see that you are leaning on God, and then help them see the peace that follows (Phil. 4:6-7).

These real-life moments are what stick. Long after they forget the details, they will remember how you responded. Let them see you working through difficulties in faith. And when God inevitably brings a solution, rejoice together.

Grow with Their Life Stage

Faith grows as children grow—and your approach should too.

Preschoolers thrive on repetition. Interactive Bible stories, hymns and simple memory verses go a long way. Reading about David’s mighty men or singing the same song at bedtime may seem small, but it builds early spiritual memories.

As children enter grade school, their questions get deeper. Let them help lead study time. Talk about characters like Ruth or Joshua. These are the years when curiosity opens the door for many meaningful discussions.

Tweens and teens need more than stories, so be sure to highlight examples they can relate to. The poetry of the psalms can help them see that even God’s servants wrestled with emotions and doubts. Make space for their questions. Help them see that faith is not about always having the answers—it is about learning to trust anyway.

Be ready to adapt and change. Faith is not one-size-fits-all, and each child is going to be different. But if you keep growing alongside your child—listening and staying engaged—you will help them build a faith that matures with them.

Faith for a Lifetime

You may have heard the saying, “Faith is caught more than taught.” Children absorb far more from how we live than from what we say. The way you speak, react and pray in day-to-day life becomes the clearest picture of faith your child will ever see.

When you are intentionally teaching them, do not overcomplicate it. A Bible story told before bed, a prayer on the way to school, a hymn sung when the lights go out—these moments build up to last a lifetime.

The bedtime story you share with your 10-year-old may be the one they recall years later during a trial. The hymn you sing when they are afraid might be the same one they hum as an adult when they need comfort or courage.

You do not have to be a perfect parent, just a faithful one. Plant the seeds of faith, tell stories and point to God in small moments. When you do, your child learns what real faith looks like.