Hi there! My name is Pip (short for Phillip). I’m a pastor at St Paul’s Anglican Church in Carlingford. I have a wonderful wife named Sophie and a daughter named Nora who keeps us busy and entertained. She is less than one year old, but already she has taught my wife and me so much about ourselves and about life.
I wrote this resource to help parents explore how Christian faith impacts our parenting. I don’t have all the answers—I’m sure of that. But I believe the Bible has answers. Whether or not you believe in God or the Bible, my encouragement is to keep an open mind as we explore this topic.
The question all parents want an answer to
If there’s one thing kids do better at than adults, it’s asking questions. “Why is the sky blue?”, “Why do I have to go to sleep?”, “Why can’t I have ice cream for dinner?”
Kids have lots of questions, but sometimes mums and dads just have one: “Am I a good parent?”
We worry: Am I doing this right? Will my kids turn out okay? Am I giving them the best possible education? Are they making enough friends? Are they making the right friends? Is my child going to be alright?
If you’ve asked yourself these questions, you’re not alone. And here’s the good news: you don’t have to figure it out by yourself. Christians believe that God wants to help parents in raising their children, because God loves people (including parents and their children!).
If you are not a Christian, my encouragement is to be open to the wisdom the Bible gives. Let’s keep exploring.
The Bible has lots to say about parenthood: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
In the Bible, the book of Proverbs offers guiding principles for life. Proverbs 22:6 says: “Train up a child in the way they should go; even when they are old, they will not depart from it.” This is a general truth: when we train, tutor and guide our kids go in the way they should, the benefits extend even into their adult lives.
But no matter how good we are at training and teaching our kids, we’ll never be perfect. We all make mistakes. The Bible reveals this clearly—every single story of a parent trying to raise their children shows that even the best parents aren’t perfect.
The Bible gives us lots of examples of parents. But there’s only one parent in the Bible described as being completely perfect. The perfect parent is not a human parent—it’s God!
The Bible describes God as a father. Throughout the Bible, God is a perfect parent: he provides, he guides, he disciplines with love, and he never stops caring even when his children mess up.
We see this perhaps most clearly in the famous parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32). In this story, a son rebels against his father and spends his father’s money in reckless living. Broken and desperate, the son returns home, expecting rejection. But his father sees him from afar and runs to embrace him with overwhelming joy. There are no harsh words, only celebration and forgiveness.
God is that father, and we are that child. Even though we so often ignore God while squandering the good gifts he gives us, he loves us more than we know. He welcomes us home not with judgment but with open arms.
When you look at how God relates to His people—with patience, with forgiveness, with a kind of love that doesn’t depend on performance—you get a glimpse of what good parenting actually looks like.
Hope for imperfect parents
I love my daughter, but I know I am not a perfect dad. When I think about the mistakes I’ve already made as a parent, and when I think ahead to all the potential mistakes I’ll make as my daughter grows up, it’s easy for me to feel despair.
And yet, my despair turns to joy when I realise that God cares for me and my daughter more than I could possibly dream. God cares for me like a child. 1 John 3:1 says, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!”
It is liberating to know that God’s love for me doesn’t depend on my performance as a parent. It also gives me deep comfort to know that God wants to help me as a parent. If you feel like an imperfect parent, it’s probably because you are—in fact, we all are!
The goal of parenthood isn’t to be perfect—and it’s not even to raise perfect kids. The goal of parenthood is to raise our kids so that they know that even though they are not perfect, and even though we are not perfect, we have a God who loves us perfectly.
If this resource has stirred up questions for you, that’s a good thing. Questions about life, meaning, and God are worth exploring—both for you and your kids! Below are some possible next steps you might take to help you (and your kids) keep exploring.
