Influence of Christian Mothers in Nurturing Spiritual Development of Children

Abstract

Children are a blessing from God and a source of new life and hope for continuity in the community as documented by Mbiti (1969) that “children are buds of society, and every birth is the arrival of ‘spring’ when life shoots out and the community thrives.” This implies children are a blessing to behold by parents as well as the larger community. Their arrival brings joy, jubilations and celebrations (Kiarie, 2016) as they are ushered in to be part and parcel of the larger community. However, children come with enormous responsibilities and demands to holistically nurture their physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of growth (Genz & Kjsebo, 2010). While all these dimensions are critical, this paper focuses on the nurturing of children’s spiritual development by their Christian mothers. This is imperative since children are spiritual beings (Miller, 2015) and they require spiritual nurture to become responsible Christians, prepared to live up to Christian standards and faith as they grow. Jesus takes children seriously, they have a special place in his kingdom (Stonehouse, 2006), hence, the need for spiritual nurture and development. It is with this understanding that the paper sought to explore the place of Christian mothers in enriching spiritual growth of their children in a world least concerned about spiritual development. The objectives of this study were to; investigate the role of Christian mothers in cultivating Christian values in their children’s lives, examine the approaches Christian mothers use in enhancing spiritual development of their children and proffer strategies that Christian mothers could utilize to promote spiritual development of their children. This study was informed by James Fowler’s theory of faith development (1081). The study adopted desk top research methodology. The findings of this study revealed that while the responsibility to nurture the spiritual development of children is a corporate responsibility in the Christian faith, it is highly influenced by mothers.