Grace-Based Parenting

When Terry Janzen (Port Coquitlam Campus Pastor of Northside Foursquare Church and a former youth pastor of 20-some years!) recommended "Grace-Based Parenting" (by Dr. Tim Kimmel) to me a couple years ago as one the best books he has read on parenting (and he's read a lot), I knew I needed to read it.  It's now the book we give out at baby dedications and I highly recommend every parent read it (in addition to daily reading of Scripture).

I read parts of back then, but I made time to read all of tonight... and it is even better than I remember it (perhaps because parenting has become even more relevant to me with growing kids).  :)

Dr. Kimmel does an excellent job of marrying sound theology with practical application.  He describes the big picture well and then gives practical scenarios (in the real world, not the Christian bubble) that put flesh on God's truth.  The thrust of the book is that if parents are being parented by God then they'll be great parents.  In other words, if we raise our kids in the way that God raises us, things will be okay (if we don't trust that then we fundamentally don't trust God).  The author is not one of those guys where grace is a license to do whatever we want, but he argues that grace is the culture and attitude where truth can be planted and take root.  Dr. Kimmel believes that every child has a fundamental need of security, significance, and strength.  He follows that up with comments that all three are answered in love, purpose, and hope (and then describes how to live those out in the real world).

It's a refreshing read.  One that I plan on reading again in a couple years.  I'll put a couple copies in the Church library for circulation.  If you want to have your own, you can buy it at Amazon.