If Your Kids Have Questions, You Want Them to Come to You for Answers
If Your Kids Have Questions,
You Want Them to Come to You
for Answers
Honest Answers equips parents to explore God
questions with their tweens
Who would have thought two weeks ago that we would be facing so much fear
and uncertainty? There are so many unknowns, so many questions, and if we have
them, we know our kids have them too. And they are going to be asking a lot of
them in the coming weeks, including questions about God’s goodness and if
prayer works. Are we prepared to answer their questions concerning faith? Janelle
Alberts and Ingrid Faro set out to help
parents confidently have these hard conversations with their new release, Honest Answers:
Exploring God Questions with Your Tween (Kregel Publications/March
24, 2020/ISBN: 9780825446443/$15.99).
Honest
Answers is designed to help parents tackle the God questions that make them
sweat. The authors know that when tweens start asking questions, they’re
already old enough to understand the answers. Alberts and Faro are determined
to equip parents with the language, theology, permission, and confidence to
join in the discussion—and to learn how to offer deeply doctrinal answers in a
way that connects with their children.
Honest Answers is divided into four parts, each with three chapters, addressing some of
the biggest faith questions that come up:
- The Bible: How it was put together, how history supports it, and the points of view of the writers.
- Prayer: How to pray, when we don’t get the answers we are wanting, and sticking with God regardless.
- Faith and science: Why the two sides don’t always agree, and how to handle situations that come up in school when what kids learn there doesn’t line up with what they learn at church.
- The church: How it is set up, why there are different denominations, and its past, present, and future.
Each
chapter begins with a “parent’s primer” on a specific topic that tweens often
ask questions about. The primer introduces the topic and provides further
background information to share in later conversations with the kids. Next, an
“honest answers Q&A” section is the part of the chapter to be read as a
family. Each Q&A section begins with a brief introduction followed by six
to eight multiple choice questions to explore together.
“Our kids want and deserve discussion about God and
the Bible and don’t accept simply being told what to think or believe,” Faro
shares. “We can enter conversations providing solid and substantive responses
to tough questions without jargon, fluff, or pat answers and don’t need to be
afraid of questions our kids may have.”
“As
parents, we want to feel confident enough to say to our kids, ‘Let’s talk about
that,’ right at their point of interest,” Alberts adds. “However, that is not
an easy thing to do. These core tenets of our faith have been debated over
centuries and have involved councils, creeds, Bible translations, extraordinary
feats of faith, and also terrible behavior. But we’re the parents. These kids
want to know what there is to know from
us. If our kids see a pattern that when they come to us, they get honest,
forthright discussion even if we do not know every answer, that will keep them
coming to us as a resource as they mature in their faith.”
The tween years present an incredible opportunity to
build trust with kids and to keep them coming back to their parents for answers
rather than finding other sources. With the tools and conversational tips here,
moms and dads can engage in a hopeful conversation and help their children
build a Christian faith to hold them steady their whole lives.
Advance
Praise
“Young teens and their
parents have honest questions that deserve thoughtful, gracious engagement.
This book provides accessible background for parents, caregivers, and teachers
to the kinds of faith questions maturing young people ask, and thought-provoking
conversation starters to spur curiosity and instruct through discussion.
Brimming with both instruction and invitation to know and to grow, Honest
Answers is an excellent teaching tool for families and faith communities
looking for fresh ways to talk about God with the next generation.”
~ Michelle Van Loon, author of Born to Wander
“Too many of
the previous generation were taught to think the Bible is a magical,
mysterious, absolutely different kind of book, only to experience a sudden
dissolution of their faith when they realized God’s Word came into being
in a real world with real authors speaking to real situations. What I like
about Honest Answers is that it gives our children a Bible that is
magical yet utterly trustworthy, while at the same time it is a collection of
authors speaking God’s word to God’s people over time. God bless the moms and
dads and teachers who make use of this fine book.”
~
Dr. Scot McKnight, professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary
About
the Authors
Alberts wrote her first faith column for the Akron Beacon Journal in 2010 and has since been a regular
contributor to various online sites including Christianity Today’s Gifted for
Leadership, RELEVANT magazine, and others. Honest Answers is her
first book.
Alberts and her family make their home in Ohio.
Visit
her on Facebook (@AuthorJanelleAlberts).
Faro is an international
speaker at conferences and churches and writes on topics that include
navigating evil and suffering, abuse and power dynamics, women in the Bible,
forgiveness, the goodness of God, identity in Christ, discipleship, and
leadership. Her motivation is to encourage people, help them navigate the pain
and sufferings of this world, and grow in thriving relationship with God and
others. She is the coauthor of Honest Answers.
Faro has two married children
and three grandchildren. She lives in Illinois.
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