Parenting Teens for a Life of Faith: Helping teens meet and know God, Rachel Turner, (BRF, 2022), £9.99.
Rachel Turner, founder of BRF’s Parenting for Faith ministry, turns her attention to the tricky teen years with a wealth of experience, insight and road-tested wisdom.
This latest title in the Parenting for Faith collection aims to help parents, grandparents and carers feel competent and confident in supporting their teenager’s faith journey. Written in direct response to requests from parents, Rachel shows how well-established Parenting for Faith tools remain relevant and effective in supporting once-small children as they grow in independence and encounter the pressures of the wider world.
She writes: ‘Research studies repeatedly affirm that parents are the primary influencer of their teenagers’ faith journeys. How we influence just may look different now than when our children were younger. Parenting is a journey that never ends. It simply transforms through the years.’
Principles, practice and stories
Chapter by chapter, Rachel unpacks the Parenting for Faith principles and relates them to issues and questions that arise when parenting teens, giving examples of how conversations might be initiated and steered, how to deflect conflict and how to be there for your teenager in ways that really help. Full of moving, relatable examples from her own experience and from the many parents and young people she encounters, this book fills an important gap in the market at a time when concern for young people’s mental and spiritual health is intensifying.
About the author
Previously a full-time children’s and families worker and the national children’s work coordinator for New Wine, Rachel Turner continues to consult, speak at conferences and run training days for parents, church leaders and youth workers. She is the pioneer of Parenting for Faith, author of the Parenting Children for a Life of Faith series and presents the Parenting for Faith course, a video-based resource for church groups and individuals. Until March 2022, she led the Parenting for Faith team at BRF.