Resources for Parents
Welcome to the parent ministry resource section of our website!
On this page, you’ll find a variety of resources designed to equip you as a parent to be the spiritual leader of your kids and teenagers. We’ve curated free materials from trusted ministry partners, including websites, books, articles, videos, and podcasts, to help you navigate parenting and lead your family spiritually. You’ll also find details about our curriculum plan and tools to help you reinforce these spiritual truths at home. While these resources come from trusted sources, it’s important to remember that no human resource should ever replace God’s Word as the ultimate guide for discipling your children. As all humans are fallible, we encourage you to filter every resource through the unchanging truth of Scripture. Don’t hesitate to contact our NextGen Staff Team with any questions or if we can support you as you raise your kids to know and honor the Lord.
Websites
Lakewood Parent Ministry has partnered with various ministries to provide parenting resources for families.
We have partnered with MINISTRY TO PARENTS to provide you with free parenting resources each month. Just click the link to see new resources each month including a short parenting class video along with a downloadable resource to help you invest in the spiritual life of your kids and teenagers. You’ll also find Family Experiences, a resource for you to lead your kids and teenagers through different spiritual milestone experiences for each year starting at birth and going all the way through 12th grade.
We have partnered with AXIS to provide you with parenting resources that will help you navigate tough conversations with your kids and teenagers around current topics from a biblical worldview. Click the link to see hundreds of parent guides on different topics including social media and technology, mental health and current cultural issues. You’ll also see training videos, podcasts, conversation kits and a weekly email (The Culture Translator) to stay up to date on current music, movies and social media trends.
We have partnered with RIGHTNOW MEDIA to give you access to the world’s largest streaming library of Bible study resources. With over 25,000 videos taught by top Christian leaders, these videos can be used for your devotion time, small group or family discipleship. There is also a library just for kids with over 2,000 safe, educational and entertaining videos. Just click the link to begin accessing content for you and your family. You can also download the app and stream on any device.
We have partnered with SCREEN SMARTS to provide you with a free online parenting course that will help you think through and set technology boundaries for your family. This 52-week course only requires 5-minutes a week and includes videos, articles and podcasts that will empower and equip you to parent smarter with technology one week at a time. You’ll learn about appropriate time limits, how to set parental controls and how to develop a theology of technology with your kids. Click the link to get started now.
Curriculum
Read below to learn what we’re teaching in our NextGen ministry environments on Sunday mornings along with resources you can use to reinforce these spiritual truths.
Preschool
On Sunday mornings at Lakewood, our Preschool Kids are using LifeWay’s Bible Studies for Life. This curriculum is built on the Levels of Biblical Learning and designed around the way young kids learn to help them grow in their understanding of foundational truths and have a transformative, age-appropriate encounter with God’s Word. Be sure to check out the At Home link below for resources to engage your preschoolers in weekly family worship, prayer prompts, activities and Bible study videos. Use the link below to access these resources through a free Ministry Grid account.
Grade School
On Sunday mornings at Lakewood, our Grade School Kids are using GO! Curriculum to help kids know God and His Word, love Him and serve Him in their daily lives. Each year, kids are taken on a chronological journey through the entire Bible and invited to become part of the storytelling experience in interactive and imaginative ways. GO! Curriculum is gospel centered, God focused, faith forming and filled with fun! Be sure to pick up the GO! HOME Parent Guide on Sunday mornings at pickup to see what your kids are learning each week or simply click the link below to follow along at home!
Middle School
On Sunday mornings at Lakewood, our Middle School students use YM360’s The Thread. In the span of a year, students and leaders will journey through the grand narrative of the Bible in order to see how every story reveals the goodness of God, the problem of sin, and the gracious salvation offered to us in Christ. The Thread displays the importance of a wide-range of Bible stories which ultimately create a beautiful, intentional, and intricate picture of Jesus. Click the link below to see what we’re learning each week along with questions you can use to reinforce the spiritual truths being taught on Sunday.
High School
On Sunday mornings at Lakewood, our High School students are starting a new curriculum called The Gospel Project. This curriculum is a 3-year journey through the entire Bible that is designed to help students see scripture not as disconnected stories, but one unified narrative that points to Jesus from Genesis to Revelation. In a world filled with competing voices, our students need to understand all of God’s Word, and to see how it speaks into their lives today. The first semester of The Gospel Project will take our students from Creation through the Exodus.
Articles
These articles are written to help and encourage parents in their God given role of discipling their own children.
Strategic Parenting: Modeling
This article, written by our Missions Pastor Dr. Benji Lavender, is part of our Strategic Parenting series—a resource created to help parents intentionally and effectively pass down their faith to the next generation. In this first practice, Dr. Lavender encourages parents to model an authentic relationship with Christ in everyday life, showing their kids what it means to truly love and follow Him.
What is Your Parenting Strategy?
If there’s value in developing a strategy for the military, a business or in sports, why would we not have a strategy when it comes to parenting our kids? When it comes to investing in the spiritual lives of the next generation, developing an effective strategy is not just important, it’s essential! In Psalm 145, we’re told that God’s strategy for future generations to know and worship the Lord is for parents to pass down spiritual truth to their children.
Standing in the Gap: The Power of Prayer in Our Kids’ Lives
If you’re a parent, you probably do a lot for your kids. OK… that’s an understatement. You feed them, dress them, listen to their stories, cries, complaints, and joys. You make sure they eat their vegetables and get to bed on time. You do most everything for them.
Books
Below you will find a variety of books that we believe will be helpful to you as you navigate the different stages and challenges of parenting.
Recommended Books
- Parenting by Paul Tripp
- Habits of the Household by Justin Whitmel Early
- Family Discipleship by Matt Chandler
- Full Circle Parenting by Jimmy and Kristen Scroggins
- The Sticky Faith Guide for Your Family by Dr. Kara Powell
- Effective Parenting in a Defective World by Chip Ingram
- Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas
- Seven Traits of Effective Parenting by Daniel Huerta
- Christ-Centered Parenting by Russell Moore and Phillip Bethancourt
- Parenting Generation Screen by Jonathan McKee