Scripture Union’s The Grandparents’ Guide to Passing on Faith aims to equip and empower Christian grandparents to sow seeds of faith in the younger generation. We caught up with one of the authors, Sarah Holmes, to find out more. Scroll to the bottom for a special offer on the guide for NexGen readers.
Tell us about the inspiration behind this guide.
During the pandemic, I did some research at Liverpool Hope University. I spoke with many Christian grandparents, and it was brilliant to hear how everybody felt that the grandparent-grandchild relationship is so special and meaningful.
But only some of the grandparents were very active in passing on faith, and others perhaps lacked confidence or didn’t know where the boundaries lay of what would be okay. And then there were issues like geographical distance and differences of opinion.
I thought we need to speak into this, and to empower and equip many of these Christian grandparents.
Could you tell us about some of your research and how this helped shape the guide?
I analysed different Christian media and denominational websites to see how much grandparents are talked about, and it’s very little compared with parents and carers.
The biggest thing that emerged from our research was that grandparents themselves saw that they were influential, or potentially influential, and churches agreed with this. And yet it’s not something that is talked about.
Only some of the grandparents were very active in passing on faith.
I also did some research at Scripture Union (which didn’t make the book because it was so new) that revealed that 49% of grandparents surveyed said they didn’t feel supported by their church in nurturing their grandchild’s faith. That’s a much higher figure than I thought. I don’t think it’s churches not wanting to – it’s just, for some reason, we’ve missed talking about it.
At its heart is Scripture Union’s Revealing Jesus approach. Could you unpack this for us?
It’s this idea of connecting and exploring faith with children and young people. For grandparents, it’s little things, like showing that we sometimes read our Bible, having Christian posters on the wall, or telling them in a positive way that we went to church and had a really good time.
Many grandparents are worried they don’t know enough or don’t feel qualified enough to talk about faith. These are people who’ve been going to church all their lives. How can we empower these generations of grandparents to say: I can engage in conversation. I can help my grandchild to explore faith. Maybe I won’t know all the answers, but we can find out together.
Then, when the child is ready to respond or find out more, they can be available to support them and help them grow in their faith. But it’s very much being led by the child or young person.
It’s a super practical book. Tell us about some of your tips.
Many grandparents told us that they don’t know what kind of Bible to buy their grandchildren, so we have a page showing which is suitable for different ages. We talk about how to pray with and for your grandchild, how to tackle tricky questions, how to navigate when the child has additional needs, and how to handle significant differences of opinion between the grandchild’s parents and the grandchild.
We talk about geographical distance, too. Some grandparents told us that they have a video call once a week with their grandchild and read them a bedtime story.
Some grandparents told us that they have a video call once a week with their grandchild and read them a bedtime story.
Grandparents have shared with us that they’ve been able to paint a picture of their faith – even when there couldn’t be much conversation because of differences of beliefs and so on – and, when their grandchild is a teenager, they’ve contacted them and requested prayer or asked questions.
Even when things seem hard, just sowing those seeds – being available and not pushy – is really, really powerful in the long term.
The guide includes stories from grandparents. Is there one that you particularly enjoyed sharing?
There was one gentleman who became a Christian when he was 60 and was very passionate about converting his whole family. He was part of our research, and even that helped him to slow down a bit and just sow those seeds. After a year, he was able to take his two granddaughters to church, and then his daughter started going as well and has become a Christian. It’s everyday life where grandparents can show their faith to their family.
What’s the biggest challenge facing Christian grandparents today?
I was involved in the first-ever UK Christian Grandparenting Conference recently. What really struck us was the challenges facing people. Family life is hard in so many ways – be it bereavement, family breakdown, geographical distance, cut off from family, whatever it might be. Many of these people don’t have anywhere to go with that pain. How can we as the church be better at supporting grandparents in those really tough spaces?
The guide includes a section on spiritual grandparents. What role do they have?
Many of our churches have quite big numbers of senior members, and many of them feel that they’re not allowed to talk to children and young people in the church because of safeguarding. Of course, we need to keep children safe and do safeguarding. But we can also encourage support in a safe way.
We have people in our churches who have a huge wealth of spiritual experience, knowledge and depth of faith.
How can churches equip and empower that intergenerational connection, which is so rich and so valuable? Even if it’s simply: “How can I pray for you this week?” And then asking the next week: “How did it go?” If that’s all it is, that’s wonderful.
But it’s lovely to see as well – especially in situations where grandparents are cut off from their family or they haven’t got grandchildren – that they can be grandparent figures to children in their church. We have people in our churches who have a huge wealth of spiritual experience, knowledge and depth of faith. If we can capitalise on that to sow into the younger generations, it’s just so powerful.
Sum the guide up in three words.
Inspiring. Practical. Impactful.
What impact do you hope the guide will have?
This is a very big hope: that we can significantly mobilise grandparents and grandparent figures to help strengthen the faith of children and young people, especially where they don’t have parents or carers who can pass faith on to them.
Scripture Union has a special offer on the guide for NexGen readers. Head to their shop and use the code GRAND-PNG26 to get the guide for £10 (RRP £12.99). Offer ends 25 December 2026.
