Families, Worship Jehovah Together
1 All of us have certain responsibilities as Christians. We know we must study God’s Word, attend Christian meetings, conduct ourselves properly as Christians and engage regularly in the field service. Some brothers have responsibilities in the congregation as elders or ministerial servants. Parents have an additional responsibility—their children.
2 God’s Word describes children as an inheritance from Jehovah God. (Ps. 127:3-5) It is a serious thing to receive an inheritance from the Creator. How are you parents caring for it? Lives are involved, both yours and your children’s. Certainly your responsibility to care properly for your children is one that you do not want to sidestep or shift to others. Jehovah as a wise Father lovingly provides aid and counsel in his Word. (Ps. 119:105; Prov. 13:24) Wise parents should seek out Jehovah’s help, as Manoah did centuries ago.—Judg. 13:8.
3 Many parents in the truth today have grown up in Jehovah’s organization, greatly appreciating its provisions. Some were young folks themselves in 1941 and received the Children book when it was released at the St. Louis convention. That fine book, along with later ones such as “Let God Be True” and the Paradise book, helped them to gain basic Scriptural knowledge. With good parental discipline and care they grew up as spiritually strong servants of Jehovah.
USE “YOUTH” BOOK
4 Parents and children now have available for use another timely provision: Your Youth—Getting the Best out of It. What an excellent aid to parents in discharging their Christian responsibilities! Many have already gone through it with their children. Have you? Whether communication problems exist or not, this book should open up channels of thought to enable you to find out what your children have on their minds, yes, and what is in their hearts.
5 Certainly the Youth book is an excellent publication for families to use in their family discussions. These do not have to be formal question-and-answer studies. In fact, the Youth book is arranged for group discussion so the entire family can be involved.
6 You will find that a number of paragraphs are usually grouped together, with one, two or more questions on each section. It is recommended that you read the paragraphs first, and then consider the questions, one at a time. And remember: The aim is not to receive parrotlike answers read from the page or pages of the book under consideration. Rather, the aim is to stimulate discussion, to open the door of communication between family members. Invite their opinions and experiences on the subjects under discussion. By all means try to determine how they really feel about these matters.
7 There are many fine chapters in the Youth book and these should make for some very interesting family discussions. Parents may wish to let their teen-age children pick ahead of time the ones they wish to discuss. Also, you will find that in most chapters there are a number of scriptures cited at the bottom of the pages. These bear on the material under discussion, and it would be good to read and discuss them and see how we can apply their counsel. Then Jehovah’s Word will be highlighted throughout the discussion. We feel that the Youth book will continue to prove to be a marvelous provision from Jehovah, our wise and loving heavenly Father, to assist you parents to discharge well your Christian responsibilities.