Help for parents and teachers

How does a worldview become a way of life? This question is at the heart of scholar Steven Garber's book Fabric of Faithfulness, and it shaped the recent Lives of Commitment grant that Whitworth University received from the Murdock Charitable Trust. Garber found that people who were identified by others as living with integrity between their beliefs and actions often had had a number of similar life experiences:



* They developed a worldview that was sufficient for the questions or crises of the next 20 years.

* They had parents or other mentors who helped them practice behaviors that matched their worldview.

* They had first-hand knowledge of the struggles of those with less in our society because they engaged in service of some sort.

* They found friends who shared their worldview and the practices that went with it.



With Garber's permission, Gloria Goris Stronks, former Calvin College education professor, and Julia Stronks, Whitworth political science professor built on the theme of his book. They surveyed hundreds of people to determine how they had worked to shape their families, living and raising their children along the lines of their Christian worldview.



Christian parenting helps children learn to connect knowing with doing and belief with behavior. The trouble is that the values of the world around us influence all of us. At times our own behavior demonstrates a disconnect between what we say we believe and how we live. This book examines the way that different Christians try to parent and raise families in keeping with their beliefs.



The people who shared their ideas and concerns did so with an honesty that was beautiful and also sometimes painful. Most of us believe that if we have children, raising those children is among the most important things we will ever do. But most of us also recognize that we have made so many mistakes along the way. This book captures moments in time as we live in a world that has been redeemed but not yet fully reconciled to God. It captures our hopes, our beliefs, our struggles. And, it lets us learn not only from scholars but also from each other.

Julia Stronks is an attorney and a professor of political science at Whitworth University in Spokane, WA.

Gloria Stronks was a professor of education at Calvin College and at Dordt College and is presently a scholar in residence at Whitworth University.