Randall Murphree
AFA Journal editor
May 2012 – Mother and author Cricket Albertson (See below.) recently talked to AFA Journal editor Randall Murphree about principles for discipling children.
AFA Journal: Why does this issue need to be addressed? Has it not already been done?
Cricket Albertson: The more people we have speaking with and about a passion for Jesus Christ, the better. I am a fourth generation Christian and many of my friends and family are in full time Christian service. Since becoming a mother, my question is: How do we prevent a generational slide that results in a limp and lukewarm faith?
AFAJ: Don’t Christian mothers have an innate capacity to pass their faith along to their children? And where is Dad in all this?
CA: I was given opportunity to share my testimony at Come to the Fire Conference, a wonderful holiness women’s conference. This book came out of that opportunity, so it is written by a mother to other mothers, but I believe the principles in it apply to fathers and grandparents as well
The temptation in our culture is to have our children, settle into parenting, and begin looking for the next adventure: ministry, food, exercise or other things to bring fulfillment. And the early commitment to be an opportunity for God in the home wanes a little bit.
Fathers may be the most important spiritual influence in the home because they represent the love and security of God the Father. If they image Him well, children are blessed, and if not, children are deeply wounded. But I do believe that mothers have a vital role to play in daily nurturing their children in the faith.
AFAJ: Do we get absolute promises from your book?
CA: No, it is not a “how-to” book. In fact, my children are 12, 10 and 8, so we are very much on a journey of joy as we seek God’s design for our family. This book simply records some of God’s teaching and dealings with our family.
AFAJ: You say that passing on the faith may be the most momentous issue of our time. Why do you feel so strongly about this?
CA: As our culture disintegrates, I believe Christian homes which are happy and healthy and whole will be the single greatest witness to the Good News and redemptive love of God in Jesus Christ. His love is the love that binds families together in our jaded, broken and individualistic world. It is Jesus who will make a difference in our society, our government and our world.
AFAJ: Explain your metaphor of how we are doorways.
CA: I heard a sermon once about being a “doorway of grace” through which other people could see the face of Jesus. I never have been able to forget that idea. When we have met the risen Lord Jesus, we live in the temporal world, but our spirits, hearts and minds are open to the Eternal One. That openness to His life and expectation of His coming provide a doorway through which He can come into our homes and through which other people can come to meet Him.
AFAJ: Why is encouragement such an important gift for a mother to give her child?
CA: Children who grow up in Christian homes need to know their value to God. They need to know that they are safe, secure, loved, cherished and special. They need to know that God has a special plan for their lives and that they have what it takes to accomplish God’s plan for them.
AFAJ: What do you mean when you talk about living on the boundary between two worlds?
CA: This idea comes from Tom Torrance, a Scottish theologian. He spoke of Christians as “boundary dwellers.” We live in between God and the world, in between time and eternity, in between things seen and things unseen. This kind of living requires us to live with our faces turned toward Christ but our hands extended to reach a world for Him. We become co-laborers with Him. All Christian mothers have this calling to live between God and our children and to live in such a way that they can see His life in us.
AFAJ: How does a mother communicate to a child what it means to live 100% for Jesus?
CA: The best way to communicate this is for the mother to live 100% for Jesus. This is not perfection of performance. Dependent Holy Spirit living is not perfection; it is openness to His presence. As my children get older, I am finding that the Holy Spirit keeps exposing more and more places in me that He needs to change. Living 100% for Him means that I keep saying yes to His cleansing touch. If our children see lives of transparency, faith and love in us, they will have a clear picture of what this looks like.
AFAJ: How does a mom introduce her children to the work of God around the world?
CA: If a mother spends time in the Word of God, God will use that Word in the lives of her children. It doesn’t even have to be organized or extensive uninterrupted periods of time. It just has to be consistent. Then, if children want to talk about the news, world events or any other situation, the mother can make Jesus the center of the conversation.
Acquainting your children with missions is a great way to help them see what God is doing around the world. Pray about how God wants you to do this, and you will have fun watching God’s answers in your children’s lives. This is an adventure with Jesus, not a program to follow.
AFAJ: How does a mother begin to recognize and cultivate her children’s gifts and talents?
CA: I believe God gives children spiritual gifts when they have asked Him into their hearts. I believe those gifts usually work with their personalities and natural talents.
I have been so surprised to watch how my three children express their love for Jesus and their faith differently. I want to be sensitive to the move of the Holy Spirit in my children and not expect them to be like each other, like me and my husband, or like some predetermined Christian child. I want them to know the freedom and joy of God’s Spirit living in them. 
In Passing On the Passion, Cricket Albertson shares one of her favorite stories of watching her youngest son share Jesus with a classmate. First, he had a burden for his friend. Next he took him a candy bar, then witnessed to him using a “Wordless Book,” a small book of colored pages, each color representing a step in presenting the Gospel. Finally, he brought his friend to church. After church, he tugged on Mom’s sleeve and said, “He’s ready.”
“Ready for what, Honey?” Albertson asked.
“To ask Jesus into his heart!”
More stories like that one fill the pages of Passing on the Passion, illustrating principles of discipleship that parents can use every day.
Albertson wears several hats, in addition to mother. Her book Passing on the Passion offers principles to help parents pass along their faith to the next generation. Albertson is executive assistant to Francis Asbury Society’s director Ron Smith in Wilmore, Kentucky, and she works closely with Dr. Dennis Kinlaw, her grandfather, himself a noted scholar, writer and former president of Asbury University in Wilmore.
Passing On The Passion is available at www.francisasburysociety.com or
859-858-4222
