USA (MNN) — Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” A 2025 Pew Research Center survey found that only 25 percent of parents regularly talk to their kids about religion.
Greg Yoder of Keys for Kids Ministries calls it a missed opportunity. “Research continues to show that a parent’s influence is the biggest factor in whether faith sticks, especially moms and dads together,” he says.
“Parents remain the strongest influence, and so don’t pass it off to your church, or a youth group, or a friend. You can have the most amazing impact on your kids.”
There’s a lot at stake. “If we don’t teach our kids [why we believe what we believe], by the time they’re 18, they’re walking out the door, and they’re not heading back to church,” Yoder says.
“When they get the first question that [challenges] their faith, and they don’t know how to answer it, it makes them wonder, ‘Is this really true?’”
Yet teaching your children to follow Christ doesn’t have to be hard. “Parents think discipleship requires a theology degree or hour-long devotionals. It doesn’t,” Yoder says.
“It’s just simple conversations in the car, prayer before school, reading a devotional, just helping kids understand how Scripture applies when they’re struggling with friends, anxiety, identity, or culture.”
(Graphic courtesy Keys for Kids Ministries)
Resources from Keys for Kids Ministries can help. “Many parents want faith for their kids, but they don’t know how to be consistent about it, especially at home,” Yoder says.
“We’re hearing from moms and dads, ‘Yeah, we want to do it, we just don’t know how or where to begin.’”
Audio and print devotionals give parents a user-friendly tool for discipleship. Request a free copy of Keys for Kids or Unlocked here.
“We encourage families to just spend five minutes together around God’s Word, around a Keys for Kids devotional or an Unlocked devotional for teens, and be consistent, because consistency beats complexity,” Yoder says.
For many families, that simple consistency has shaped faith across generations.
“Because Keys for Kids has been around since 1982, we’re now in the second and third generations of families that have been using this effectively, and they’re seeing incredible results,” he adds.
“What they typically do is find a specific time of day and stick to it. It might be before they leave for school, or just before they go to bed; it can look different for everybody.”
Header and story images courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries.
