Raising children who know they are 'in Christ' when the world around looks for identity elsewhere

Premier NexGen: What did you have in mind when you wrote the book?

Ed Drew: The goal is that parents feel less intimidated, less nervous and less on the backfoot. I think to be a Christian parent is to usually feel tired, worried and a bit guilty! To be a Christian parent normally means we know what we believe, but we find it very difficult first of all, to hand that on to our children. And secondly, we feel nervous, because our children’s world is more normally more hostile than ours.

PNG: You use the term ‘confident kids’ – that can mean all sorts of things.

ED: The rate of change of our children’s world is extraordinary. And I guess in one or two areas, we’re more aware of that. So for instance, in the realm of sexuality, in the realm of mental health, in the realm of gender, our children are being asked to give themselves labels to define themselves.

What gender are you? What sex are you? What sexuality are you? Where do you belong? What do you ascribe to? Who is your favourite? All these are labels where increasingly our children and young people are being asked to put themselves into boxes. Although this is painted as a good story, it is actually an unsettling story. Everyone who has grown up knows we have changed our affiliations and our labels as we have grown up. To be a Christian is to know our Creator has given us a label. If we understand we belong to him, and we have come home to our Heavenly Father, then everything else is secondary.

PNG: Sadly the label ‘Christian’, which was positive or neutral in a previous generation, has baggage connected to it. Your subtitle has the words ‘grounding identity in Christ’, which is a wonderful thing, but may not be deemed wonderful by a child who doesn’t fancy the label of being part of a ‘Christian home’. What does ‘grounded in Christ’ mean?