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Of Such Is the Kingdom: Nurturing Children in the light of Scripture
Are you bringing up your children the way God wants you to? Of Such is the Kingdom re-examines the tasks of parenting and care of children in the church from a Biblical and theological point of view. This foundation is seriously lacking in current Christian literature - too often books skirt around difficult questions as the spiritual nature of children and the place of children in the church. Timothy Sisemore here builds a practical approach to parenting and children's ministry. He also reviews biblical guidelines on discipline and control yet goes beyond this to how to train up children to be godly. He suggests ways in which this can be done in both family and church settings. Subjects covered include - Christian parenting in a hostile world, educating children spiritually and academically, Cultivating godliness, disciplining and discipling, how are children saved? The Church's responsibility towards its children, children's involvement in worship and sacraments, how to develop a biblical / theological base to minister to children in all aspects of family and church life.
192 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2003
About the author
Timothy A. Sisemore
16 books1 followerTimothy A. Sisemore, PhD, is professor of psychology and counseling and director of research at Richmont Graduate University in Chattanooga, TN. He has more than twenty-five years of experience as a clinical psychologist and specializes in anxiety disorders. He has written three previous books on anxiety treatment.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 28, 2022
Some good parenting advice, including a reasonable explanation of the Bible's instructions on discipline. Also makes a strong case for infant baptism.
Notes
Innocents or Devils?
The image of God in humans was damaged when Adam fell. It's restored through regeneration and sanctification. Col 3:10 shows that knowledge or intelligence is part of image. Eph 4:24 shows righteousness and holiness are part of image.
How and When Can Children Be Saved?
If infants were innocent/sinless and deserving of Heaven, why would they die, since death is a consequence of sin? No one is sinless (Ps 14:3), and no one goes to Heaven without needing Christ (John 14:6).
The Bible doesn't explicitly state what happens to infants who die. The closest it gets is 2 Sam 12:23, which suggests that David's baby son went to Heaven.
Cultivating Godly Children: What's a Parent to Do?
Don't rebuke kids for behavior that's irritating but not sinful; it can provoke them.
Don't frustrate kids by always demanding more and never praising successes.
The School of Life: Parents are Teachers
Give kids an allowance, but also specify what they're to buy with their allowance. For young kids, this could be snacks or toys. As kids grow, increase chores, allowance, and area of financial responsibility. When kids are early teens, all their entertainment costs, some transportation costs, and some special events costs should come from allowance. Later in adolescence, they should also be responsible for clothing budget, part of car expenses, and social activity costs.
Disciplining Disciples
Word "rod" in Bible doesn't require spanking. Although some instances of "rod" do refer to physical discipline (Ex 21:20-21; Pro 10:13; 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14), it's also used metaphorically for a broad range of discipline forms (Isa 10:15-17; 2 Sam 7:14; Job 9:34; Ps 89:32; Lam 3:1).
The Bible speaks of rewards for obedience and advocates discipline that includes positive and negative consequences.
Kids are more likely to respect you when you act in a respectable way (not having a temper).
Positive incentive systems fail when it takes too long to receive rewards. For young kids, give rewards daily or weekly.
Short, hard grounding (taking away all privileges for 1-2 days) is more easily enforced and less demoralizing than an extended grounding.
Other forms of discipline: logical consequences, time out, extra chores.
Don't make child write lines as form of discipline, as it sends message that writing is punishment, but you want child to enjoy writing.
Children and the Sacraments
Infant baptism
• Jesus blessed children brought to Him by their parents, when children weren't old enough to come themselves. He said the Kingdom is comprised of such children.
• As circumcision was sign of covenant in OT (Gen 17:10), baptism is sign of covenant in NT (Acts 7:8). A commandment is binding until its obligation ceases, it's repealed, or it's modified. None of those happened to applying sign of covenant to infants. Because circumcision was done to infant children of believers in OT, baptism should be done to infant children of believers in NT.
• Acts 2:39 says God's promise still includes children.
• NT household baptisms almost certainly included children who weren't old enough to decide to follow Christ (Acts 11:14; 16:14-15, 31-33; 1 Cor 1:16). Otherwise, we'd expect NT to specify that adult members of household were baptized, rather than entire household.
Notes
Innocents or Devils?
The image of God in humans was damaged when Adam fell. It's restored through regeneration and sanctification. Col 3:10 shows that knowledge or intelligence is part of image. Eph 4:24 shows righteousness and holiness are part of image.
How and When Can Children Be Saved?
If infants were innocent/sinless and deserving of Heaven, why would they die, since death is a consequence of sin? No one is sinless (Ps 14:3), and no one goes to Heaven without needing Christ (John 14:6).
The Bible doesn't explicitly state what happens to infants who die. The closest it gets is 2 Sam 12:23, which suggests that David's baby son went to Heaven.
Cultivating Godly Children: What's a Parent to Do?
Don't rebuke kids for behavior that's irritating but not sinful; it can provoke them.
Don't frustrate kids by always demanding more and never praising successes.
The School of Life: Parents are Teachers
Give kids an allowance, but also specify what they're to buy with their allowance. For young kids, this could be snacks or toys. As kids grow, increase chores, allowance, and area of financial responsibility. When kids are early teens, all their entertainment costs, some transportation costs, and some special events costs should come from allowance. Later in adolescence, they should also be responsible for clothing budget, part of car expenses, and social activity costs.
Disciplining Disciples
Word "rod" in Bible doesn't require spanking. Although some instances of "rod" do refer to physical discipline (Ex 21:20-21; Pro 10:13; 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14), it's also used metaphorically for a broad range of discipline forms (Isa 10:15-17; 2 Sam 7:14; Job 9:34; Ps 89:32; Lam 3:1).
The Bible speaks of rewards for obedience and advocates discipline that includes positive and negative consequences.
Kids are more likely to respect you when you act in a respectable way (not having a temper).
Positive incentive systems fail when it takes too long to receive rewards. For young kids, give rewards daily or weekly.
Short, hard grounding (taking away all privileges for 1-2 days) is more easily enforced and less demoralizing than an extended grounding.
Other forms of discipline: logical consequences, time out, extra chores.
Don't make child write lines as form of discipline, as it sends message that writing is punishment, but you want child to enjoy writing.
Children and the Sacraments
Infant baptism
• Jesus blessed children brought to Him by their parents, when children weren't old enough to come themselves. He said the Kingdom is comprised of such children.
• As circumcision was sign of covenant in OT (Gen 17:10), baptism is sign of covenant in NT (Acts 7:8). A commandment is binding until its obligation ceases, it's repealed, or it's modified. None of those happened to applying sign of covenant to infants. Because circumcision was done to infant children of believers in OT, baptism should be done to infant children of believers in NT.
• Acts 2:39 says God's promise still includes children.
• NT household baptisms almost certainly included children who weren't old enough to decide to follow Christ (Acts 11:14; 16:14-15, 31-33; 1 Cor 1:16). Otherwise, we'd expect NT to specify that adult members of household were baptized, rather than entire household.
March 10, 2024
Fantastic. A biblical and practical theology of covenantal Child-rearing. I highly suggest reading this book.
July 25, 2012
The description listed with Goodreads about Rainforests is a misprint...the book is actually about (to quote the jacket cover):...a practical approach to parenting and children's ministry and shows how to nurture children to be disciples.....Dr. Sisemore teaches you about-Christian parenting in a hostile world, educating children spirtiually and academically, cultivating godliness, disciplining and discipling, honoring parents, how children are saved, the church's responsibility towards its children, children's involvement in worship and sacraments.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews