This is a booklet written to address parents whose adult children might have either left the faith or embraced an ungodly lifestyle. As a pastor I think there is a huge need for good Christian writing to address parents undergoing such trials and I’m glad that both the author Robert Jones and the publisher have saw fit to have this book fill this important niche. As a booklet it is part of a wonderful biblical counseling series called “Resources for Changing Lives” printed by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing. In the past there were many works in this series which I have read, reviewed and recommended and this booklet now also would be included among them.


I was glad that the book did not just look at one particular issue with the wayward adult child; the issues mentioned ranges from addiction, cohabitation, homosexuality and apostasy. While mentioning these issues show the readers that the author had in the struggling parents in mind nevertheless I thought the author was wise to not only focus on only one specific issue but chose to address the parents with these prodigal children as a group. This is helpful; for me it reminded me that while the specific issues might differ yet there is nothing new under the sun and there are other parents who are going over similar thing with their child.

I appreciated the fact that in the beginning this booklet discussed what parental distress feels like. Here the author considered seven common responses of parents to the reality of a child turning away from the Lord. These responses include shock, confusion, despair and anger. I appreciate this discussion because for the parents reading this it allows them to evaluate the emotions they might have and also to evaluate them biblically. For instance in discussing about confusion the author is well aware that parents might be flooded with lots of questions in their mind about what and why things happened; yet the author also noted that some questions are unanswerable and that the son or daughter might not fully understand what’s going on either.

The bulk of the book looks at “eight pieces of biblical counsel for a parent whose adult child has turned away from the Lord and pursued a life apart from Christ.” There’s some precious biblical truths here such as the nuanced discussion of the balanced of distinguishing parents’ responsibilities and the child’s responsibilities where Proverbs 22:6 is seen also in light of the example of God’s “parenting” mentioned in Isaiah 1:2 and Malachi 1:6. I also thought the counsel of seeking unity with one’s own spouse and also shepherding the siblings of the prodigal child were also very wise and very important.

I recommend this booklet.

NOTE: This book was provided to me free by P&R Publishing and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

I didn't experience a prodigal child,I experienced two prodigal children. I after the first one o would know how to deal with the second one but I was at a loss with my youngest. For some reason it was harder to put him in the hands of God and trust everything would be ok. While the struggle is still ongoing, I now can trust that God is in control.