Really enjoyed this book in discipline children. It was wonderful that it addressed all kinds of authority figures, including extended family. Very practical, which I find isn’t very common in parenting books.

Having read many parenting books I feel like this book needed more. I was excited to read this book because I do want to train up my child and disciple them about Jesus and the Bible, but found myself needing more than what this offered.

I’m not opposed to a book that relies heavily on her experience with her own kids—but it seemed to have a limited audience because her kids seemed to want to do everything and be apart of everything she recommends in this book.

For example I wanted more meat of what does the Bible say in terms of technology—we already know it’s messy and is a constant struggle to maintain balance—I found myself thumbing through the pages to find how do we combat that. Where are the verses we can ground our kids in. Where’s the scripture that talks about self control and what our desires ought to be?

Another example she mentions is how the kids will struggle with messy things like homosexuality. She points out we need to have clear open communication and be calm. Okay great, but what now? In the “don’t try this at home” section that means try this at home—she says to spend time talking with our kids about our experiences. I feel like she just glosses over the opportunity to really get into these issues. We need a solid footing when it comes to these issues. Kids aren’t going to hold on to “my parent’s experiences”. I think this book missed the opportunity to address things specifically. Instead of taking real issues that kids have by the horns we are met with simply watching a bull fight on a tv screen.



How can we disciple them just by talk or simply by doing. It needs to be through the Word. Not “what I say or what I think.” Not saying that leading by example is nothing, but if we do and simply tell them to do also—we fail to give them the why. Our very authority as a parent comes from the Bible and when the kids grow up they need to know that their ultimate authority comes from the Word of God, the Bible. This is what I think lacked in her book.

She gives good ideas that just lacked the strength of having Bible verses to go along.

Raising Disciples: How to Make Faith Matter for Our Kids by Natalie Frisk is a simple guide to raising kids in God's ways. I loved her shame-free approach at coming alonside your kids in their faith. I recommend this books to parents struggling with this. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

This is one of the hands-down BEST books on Christian parenting I have read. The book is honest, practical and realistic. Rather than simply offering a how (which it does), it challenges parents to live in a Jesus-centered way and raise their children in this way too. I was challenged by this book but also felt empowered - like I could do what she was asking! The tips for each developmental stage were very practical and I can definitely see myself implementing them. I will be recommending this book to parents in my church family and circle!

Raising Disciples is hard. They don't pay attention to "do as I say and not as I do." We have to show them how to live and how to follow Jesus. As kids get older they grow out of the faith of their parents. They have to cultivate their own or they walk away from the church. Being an example is a good way for you to show them how to do this without having to lecture which usually loses them instead of bringing them closer.

Raising children is incredibly difficult, raising childing of faith in a rapidly shifting culture with rapidly shifting norms is hard has heck. It's stressful and much help is needed. Reading books sometimes helps. Removing yourself and thinking big picture about your parenting journey sometimes helps. Raising disciples might help you, if nothing else, it will give immense food for thought.

As I return to God and my journey as a Christian, I am devouring books that will help me along the way. My son used to think that Captain America was Jesus. While Captain America is pretty flipping awesome, he is not the Son of God. I knew then that I had to do more for my children. Enter Raising Disciples. I liked how the author gave tips on how to guide our children in their spiritual journey through every single age. There are things we can do with little ones that probably won't have the same impact on the teenagers. Throughout the book, there's also advice for how to strengthen your own spiritual journey while helping your children. Intention is a big theme throughout the book. You have to do everything with intention or your kids will be able to tell the difference. Overall it was a very informative book and I plan on putting everything in to practice immediately.

Title: Raising Disciples
Author: Natalie Frisk
Publisher: Herald Press
Release Date: September 17, 2019

Personal Rating: 3.78
Star Rating: 4/5

My Thoughts

How do we make faith count for our kids? Natalie Frisk has much experience with faith based children's curriculum and a variety of family settings. With this book she attempts to answer the many questions asked of her. She answers questions on the subject of how to make faith important in the lives of children and how can we help keep them invested so that their faith will grow with them through their teen and adult lives. [Read more…]

This book was refreshing. It was a book about the actions we readers can take to improve faith in our children. At times it could be repetitive, but the information was worth reading.

The author addresses not just parents, but grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, anyone who has become a spiritual mentor to someone. This book is different in that it encourages. I loved when she said, "As disciples, we ebb and flow in our journey with Jesus. We may grow leaps and bounds. We may lean closer and closer to Jesus, but them we may stumble and fall. We get back up, but it takes time."

With Deuteronomy 6:4-9 as a basis for her writings, Natalie emphasizes the importance of living our lives in genuine faith and having our relationship with Jesus to be daily and natural. In later chapters she suggests practical actions to live out our faith and how those will be used to establish a long term faith in our children.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to deepen their own walk with the Lord as well as those who want to make am impact on the lives of others.

*I recived a free copy of this book from the publisher for a free review. All opinions expressed are my own.*

About the Author

Natalie Frisk is the curriculum pastor at The Meeting House Church in Toronto, Canada, where she and a team create kids’ and youth curricula for ages 0–18 used by churches worldwide. Frisk is a sought-after speaker on topics of youth and children’s ministry, spiritual formation, and discipleship, and her work has been published in Canadian Youth Workers Magazine and at the ReKnew and Pangea blogs. Frisk has a master’s degree in theological studies from McMaster Divinity College and serves on the board of Be in Christ Church of Canada. She is married to Sam, mom to Erin, and child of God. She loves Jesus, coffee, and samosas.

This year God has really laid on my heart the need for me to train up my girls in His way and teach them how to love, trust, and obey God. When I saw this book come available for review I knew it was one I wanted to read. This book went through the different ages of childhood from 0-18 years and gave some practical tips on how to incorporate Jesus-centered parenting into the home within the different stages of a child's life. This book was an easy-read and it reminded me that God calls us to "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6 and reinforced what God has put on my heart and how important raising our children to love and trust God is.

E-book - I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for the purpose of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Good: Natalie’s writing style made this book an easy read, and she is relentlessly Jesus-focused throughout. Along with stories that helped solidify the content, each chapter included a section of reflection questions and/or tips for discipling your children. These lists, rather than resembling “to do” lists, where actually rather encouraging, and summarized the content of each chapter. They were especially helpful during the final chapters which looked at ages and stages of development, and gave good reminders for both what to do and what not to do as babies grow into kids, kids into youth, and youth into adults. The chapter on “Outsourcing Discipleship” was particularly insightful.

The Bad: I would have appreciated more in depth reflections on scripture. Most of the scripture discussions were drive-bys, rather than dive–ins, which gave the unfortunate impression that scriptural reflections were an addendum to already formed ideas rather than the central locus from which the ideas and reflections of the book were flowing from. Ultimately, this made it seem that the stories from Natalie's own experiences were more central to the book than The Word her words were drawing their "life" from.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. The opinions expressed are my own.

My Thoughts:
Any book that starts with a Mr. Rogers quote automatically deserves five stars, but this book does more than just quote my hero. This book is helpful for parents, but it is also a book for youth pastors, grand parents, teachers, anyone interested in teaching a younger generation about faith in a way that is meaningful to them. One of the main points I gleaned was from chapter three. This was discussing outsourcing discipleship, meaning it has become the norm to assume kids get their bible teaching at church and it’s over. Instead, just as a child learns an instrument and has practice time or how parents help with homework the path of discipleship needs space to grow at home with practice and involvement from parents. This ultimately, means we can’t just instill faith into someone else but must live it ourselves.

Natalie Frisk gets to the heart of raising our kids and training and discipling them, as we launch them out into the world. I appreciate her honesty and her encouragement, from real-life practical places. Thank you for allowing me to review this.

Natalie Frisk's new book, Raising Disciples: How to Make Faith Matter for Our Kids, will likely be a good handbook for parents looking for guidance in discipling their children. It is a biblically based book filled with practical suggestions. The author focuses on what Jesus-centered parenting looks like, and gives hints for each developmental stage. Additionally, each chapter ends with a "Don't Try This at Home" section which actually poses questions to help parents process what they're reading and think through what the principles and concepts might look like in thier own homes. Having read countless parenting books, including several specifically about discipling one's children, I found that this one really didn't offer anything new or original. On the positive side, Frisk does offer a new book for a new generation of parents seeking to raise their kids in Jesus-centered homes.

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. The opinions expressed are my onw.