COMBINING THE INFLUENCE
When it comes to spiritual formation, church and home both have influence in the lives of children and students. However, statistics will show that parents still exercise the greatest influence on the spiritual development of their children. Merge is a Biblical approach to combine the influence of church and home. Merge will help our church and parents form a stronger, more intentional partnership to create a greater impact on the next generation. Merge is not a program; it is a lifestyle of leadership. Deut. 6:6-7 expresses God’s expectation for all parents - to lead their children to love Him above everyone and everything else. Merge provides parents with the plan and resources to help them lead their families.

COMMON TERMS FOR MERGE
Core Truths - At each stage of spiritual development parents will teach their kids a few basic Core Truths from scripture. These Core Truths will be broken down into smaller concepts and taught by parents through the use of Faith Talks.

Faith Talks - Pre-designed, intentional conversations that are led by parents to impress Biblical truths upon their kids. These are written by Mobberly’s staff and provided as a resource to parents. Parents then choose the best time to have these strategic conversations with their kids based on the pattern (Rhythm) of each family. Families should plan one Faith Talk time each week.

God Sightings - As parents become accustomed to intentionally impressing truth upon their kids they will begin to notice unplanned moments where they see God at work and can call attention to things He is doing or has done - these are called God sightings.

Rhythm - Each family will have to decide the best time each week to meet for a Faith Talk or parents may decide to have Faith Talks with each of their kids individually based on the stage of their kid’s spiritual development. Deut. 6:7 emphasizes the need to take advantage of common times that all families encounter: when you sit in your house, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, when you get up. This is the rhythm of life - families will decide how to impress truth upon their kids utilizing these times, thus families will find their own rhythm.

Stages of Spiritual Development - Times in each child’s life associated with the need to have their parents impress upon them particular Biblical truths.