TLP 566: Parenting Your Kids to Adulthood, Part 6 | The Ceremony

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This isn't merely a sober reminder of the part they've played in the young person's life, but also a promise to continue speaking truth and love for their continued growth and spiritual maturity.

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Parenting isn't about us. In fact, parenting isn't even about our kids. Parenting is just one way

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Christian dads and moms are to worship God. So welcome to the Truth, Love, Parent podcast, where we train dads and moms to give

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God the preeminence in their parenting. There are only two episodes left in our Parenting Your Kids to Adulthood series.

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Today, we're going to talk about the adulthood ceremony, where you and your new adult and your family and friends come together to celebrate this coming of age into biblical adulthood.

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And then on our next episode, we will do a little housekeeping as we answer any questions that may not have been answered in the other episodes.

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The main focus of the episode is going to be about practically transitioning your son or daughter from a child to a young adult, and then again, from a young -slash -immature adulthood to more mature adulthood.

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Your job as a parent isn't done just because your child is more mature than they used to be. Now, I don't normally do this, but if you've been listening to this series and have questions that still haven't been answered, if they're not answered by the end of today's show, please email us at teamtlp at truthloveparent .com,

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and we will make sure to answer your question. We may answer it on Part 7 if it's a short answer, but even if your question requires a longer answer, we will make sure we answer it for you to the best of our ability.

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And speaking of answers, every episode in this series provides you with free notes, full transcripts you can go back and read, and tons of related resources including podcast episodes and online courses to help you grow in all of the areas we've discussed.

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We also have the same four series sponsors to tell you about, but I'm going to share their amazing resources at different points during the show.

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So, let's get started. The majority of today's topic is not directly biblical.

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What I mean is, you're not going to find verses commanding any of this, and you're not even really going to find any illustrations of people doing these things.

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However, we've been talking about the expectations, commands, and principles all throughout Scripture that need to inform and direct our parenting.

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The topic today is less about God's specific expectations for an adulthood ceremony and more about profitable ways to celebrate

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God's work in your child as well as excite them and prepare them for what lies ahead.

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These are practical ideas that aren't biblically necessary, but I believe will encourage and equip your children in Christ -honoring ways.

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I also want to say that the majority of the ideas I gleaned for my son's manhood ceremony and my daughter's womanhood ceremony came from Scott and Becky Anuel.

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Some of you will remember that I had them on my show a while back to help answer the question of whether you should homeschool your kids this fall.

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I'll include a link to that interview in the description of today's episode so that you can get to know them a little bit better. But I'm also going to include two articles that were written by Scott.

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The first is called, Manhood Ceremony for a Boy Becoming a Man. It was the first article he wrote on the subject when his son turned 13.

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He wrote another article two years later when his daughter turned 13. That article is called, Coming -of -Age

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Ceremonies Can Help Your Adolescent Children Become Adults. I leaned heavily on both of these articles when working with my own kids and preparing their coming -of -age ceremonies, but my kids were the same age as his kids, so now

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I encourage people just to read the second article because it does a good job of summing up all the points made in both.

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Either way, they're both linked for you in the description so you can read them both if you want to. Scott Anuel has a master's degree in Theological Studies, a master's degree in Aesthetics, and a

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Ph .D. in Worship Theology. He's the Executive Vice President and Editor -in -Chief of G3 Ministries.

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Becky has a Ph .D. in Christian Education and speaks all over the world. In fact, she and I will both be speaking at the

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Great Homeschooling Convention in Greenville, South Carolina this year. She and Scott have four children, Becky has and is homeschooling them all, and Scott and Becky have a podcast called

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Living Homeschool Life. Now, that's all extra info in case you're interested to know a little bit more about the people who created this version of an adulthood ceremony.

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I say this version because, as I mentioned earlier, there are many ways one could go about this ceremony. However, I believe the ceremonies

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Scott and Becky put together for their kids hit all the right biblical notes. That's why I used their format and why

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I would encourage you to do the same. But before we talk about the ceremony itself, I want to quickly consider the value these events can have.

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First, let's talk about a rite of passage. A friend of the show, Frank Ruscio, and his family are missionaries in Papua New Guinea.

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On his most recent update video, he and his son talked about this rite of passage in which the locals participate.

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According to the ones in the know, once a year, all of the eligible young men go out to an island off the coast, and they stay there for at least a month.

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According to Frank, everyone in the village says that they don't drink any water while they're out there, but they only eat some dried food.

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I think Frank is as confused as you and I are, but he testified that they do come back all skin and bones.

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He also said that the goal is to toughen them up and make them more self -dependent. Now, there have been as many rites of passage as there have been people groups to have them.

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In movies, they always seem intense as they are designed to weed out the weak from the strong. I suppose that's exactly why there is no national rite of passage in affluent first world countries.

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In many ways, far too many of us are comparatively weak, but we don't really mind because our struggles aren't the same as theirs are.

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So the closest we have to a rite of passage maybe is graduating high school. But whereas graduating from high school used to be an achievement, the goalposts were pushed back to college graduation, and then to their post -graduate work.

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So when exactly does the rite of passage take place? Well, whenever you think you crossed that line, it was probably way past 18.

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Even the idea of getting a driver's license is different in various states and isn't required to be identified as a man or a woman, therefore it doesn't really count either.

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As a society, we have no legitimate rite of passage into adulthood, but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be one.

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The adulthood ceremony isn't the rite of passage, it's the coming -of -age ceremony that comes after the successful completion of the rite.

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For the men in Papua New Guinea, they celebrate with tons of rice and roasted pigs when the young men return. Though this episode isn't about a rite of passage, in this case,

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I would suggest that the expectations for consistent spiritual maturity coupled with the direct adulthood training expectations is a great start.

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From there, you and your family can add whatever other expectations you think will test your children's readiness for the next phase of their life.

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This concept of a rite of passage is so important because it sets a clear goal and a trajectory. It requires that we teach our kids and help prepare them for that goal.

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It's something that's both tied to a calendar date and a biblical expectation. It's important, and a rite of passage, a test, helps with the gravitas of the situation.

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Now, Scott Angell doesn't necessarily refer to a rite of passage, but he describes it this way. Quote, Several years ago, we began to intentionally read with each of our older children books we felt would help them cultivate godly disciplines, deal with struggles they're facing, or simply grow in their knowledge of Scripture, personal holiness, and love for Christ.

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We've read things like What is the Gospel by Greg Gilbert, The Talk, Seven Lessons to Introduce Your Child to Biblical Sexuality by Luke Gilkerson, Disciplines of a

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Godly Young Man by R. Kent Hughes, Feminine by Design by Scott Brown, and Core Christianity by Michael Horton, among other things.

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These have been wonderful opportunities to have significant conversations. Then over the six months or so leading up to their thirteenth birthday,

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I began to specifically plan what we would do to mark the occasion. For Caleb, I benefited from reading

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Raising a Modern Day Knight, a Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood by Robert Lewis, and modeled

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Kate's in similar ways as well. We talked with the kids about marks of godly manhood and womanhood as they enter this stage of life."

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This is part of that direct adulthood training part of the preparation. And when our kids show us that they're maturing into adulthood by the power of God, then we really have something to celebrate.

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And then the importance of the actual coming -of -age ceremony is to celebrate the momentous achievement. It's a celebration of God, the young adult, the parents, and the broader parenting community.

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It's a joyous occasion worthy of more pomp and circumstance than a milestone birthday or graduation. The two most important decisions a person can ever make in this life is the decision to submit to God and the decision to marry.

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The adulthood ceremony is, hopefully, an extension of the first. Now, I'm not going to say that you should never have an adulthood ceremony for a child that doesn't profess salvation.

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As sad as that would be, there are equally important steps that a child should be making in their maturity, ones that we hope will be part of them eventually submitting to Christ.

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I would also remind us that spiritual and cognitive maturity are not tied to age. Therefore, becoming a biblical adult is not tied to the age of 13 or 18.

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This ceremony is not guaranteed simply because your child turns 13. They have to successfully navigate the preparations and the rite of passage in order to take part of the ceremony.

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In such cases, I would postpone the adulthood ceremony until the young person is more spiritually and or cognitively mature.

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If you have specific questions about the unique needs of your own child, please never hesitate to contact us at counselor at truthloveparent .com

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for the questions I simply can't answer here on the show. And we told both of our kids this.

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They both understood that just because they turned 13 doesn't mean they would automatically transition into young adulthood.

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They needed to be growing in that direction and they needed to have our blessing. But the focus of today's show is going to be for a young person who has both professed to be a

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Christian and who is trying to mature in the power of the Holy Spirit for the glory of the Father. Now, before we get into the four -fold considerations for the ceremony itself,

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I want to thank MyPillow for sponsoring this series. They have an amazing offer right now all for Truth Love Parent listeners.

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forward slash evermind to get these details. When you invest in our show sponsors, they keep investing in us.

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You get great products and we get the financial boost we need to help keep this show on the air. Okay, so the first few points are the easy ones.

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Let's start with number one, the goal. As was already mentioned, please make this ceremony about God.

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This is not merely a party where we're just here to have fun. You don't set up a bounce house at this event. Now, I'm not saying there shouldn't be some sort of fun after the ceremony, but the ceremony itself has a purpose and that goal has four parts.

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Number one, we want to praise the Lord for His person and His work in your child. Number two, we want to honor your child for submitting to the

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Lord and working toward His glory. Three, this is a time to show love toward the others in your child's life who have significantly contributed to the teaching, reproof, correction, and training that they have brought to them to this point.

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And four, yes, this is also a tacit celebration of you, mom and dad, for submitting to God's expectations for your parenting.

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Should you plan a moment to pat yourself on the back? No. Will anyone else take the time to do it for you? Maybe. I would hope so, but that's not the point.

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As a biblical parent, the experience itself is more than enough. Now, our second sponsor for the day is my new book,

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Quit, How to Stop Family Strife for Good. And it doesn't matter what Andrew Rappaport says, yes, my book can sponsor an episode.

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Quit is now available for a limited time for only $10 on Amazon, and a digital copy can be accessed on the

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Evermind app for only $8. I really hope you'll get your eyes on this book. It's been a labor of love for me to help families worship

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God better by addressing the strife in their homes. Our second consideration for the ceremony is, number two, the people.

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Who should be invited to this party? Well, obviously we want to invite the men and or women who have intentionally and consistently influenced your child for the

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Lord. Hopefully this will include family, people in your church, Christian friends, and the others we discussed in our community episode.

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But what about your child's friends? This might be a tricky one. If your child has friends whose parents are part of your parenting community, and you're all on the same page about rearing your kids to adulthood, those young people should definitely be there.

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But what about your child's other friends? The kids on their team or the young people in their class?

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Again, this is not just a party where everyone amuses themselves. This is a significant celebration of an act of God in your child's life and them graduating out of childhood into adulthood.

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To be honest, most of their friends likely will not really get what's going on because their parents haven't been rearing them to be adults.

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But that doesn't mean they shouldn't be there. This is an opportunity to do something really grown up, to invite their friends to be exposed to the gospel.

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That is, I'm assuming the gospel will be part of the ceremony, right? Now unfortunately for Micah, my son, his manhood ceremony occurred during the lockdown, so we did it virtually.

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Therefore, the only people who attended were those who were part of the ceremony. But some of those men had their younger sons join them on the

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Zoom call because it was a chance for those young people to see an example of someone who was maturing and hopefully spark a desire in those young people to do the same.

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As always, you need to consider how many people should be there, but there's no reason to feel like you have to rent out a hall. This can be as small and intimate as you want it to be.

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But I would also caution you not to invite so many young people that it becomes a distraction if they aren't mature enough to appreciate what's going on.

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Now some of the people in attendance are really just spectators, but others may have the opportunity to make a presentation or speak a word while they're there.

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We'll talk more about this in our last consideration. For now though, I want you to know that the

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Thrive Homeschooling Conference is running from May 22nd to the 24th. I will be presenting two workshops at that conference, and I will have a booth there as well.

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The link for more information about the North Carolina Thrive Homeschooling Conference will be in the description. Now it's time to talk about a very exciting topic.

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Number three, the food. Actually this isn't really that big of a deal. I suggest though, definitely having a meal your son or daughter will really enjoy.

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In his article, Scott Anuel shares that they served barbecue brisket at their son's ceremony and had a formal tea at their daughter's.

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Again, these aren't expectations, they're simply one man's examples of things his children would love. What's funny is that no one in my family can actually remember what we ate during either of my kids' ceremonies.

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Now our last one was nearly three years ago, and the one before that was nearly six years ago. But according to my daughter, my memory of the rest of the womanhood ceremony overshadows what

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I ate. Needless to say, if the food is the biggest takeaway from the ceremony, there may have been some priority issues.

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But that doesn't mean it shouldn't be delicious and fun in the moment because eating and celebrating are intrinsically linked by God.

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I go into greater detail about this phenomenon in the introductory episodes of the Celebration of God podcast.

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Now before we look at our final point for the day, please let me remind you about another of our sponsors, the

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Great Homeschooling Convention. The convention will run from March 13th through the 15th in Greenville, South Carolina.

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Truth Love Family will be exhibiting there. I'll be selling and signing special price copies of Quit! How to Stop Family Strife for Good, and I'll be speaking on Expectational Education in one of the breakouts.

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But you'll also be able to hear social media influencer Nick Freitas, Joel Salatin, the operator of Polyface Farms, and Dr.

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Becky Anuel, whose husband wrote the articles I've been referencing, in addition to a ton of other speakers. Just check out the description for a link where you can find and learn more about the convention.

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Okay, so we've talked about the goal, the people, and the food. Let's now consider our final point, number four, the ceremony.

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Scott's article, Coming -of -Age Ceremonies Can Help Your Adolescent Children Become Adults, not only describes what they did for their kids, it also includes handouts that you can use for some inspiration for your child's ceremony.

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And it's in those handouts that I really want to quickly discuss. According to Scott's outline for the ceremony, each started with a reading of 1

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Corinthians 13, 11 -13. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child.

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When I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

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Now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been known, fully known.

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But now abide faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.

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After reading that passage, Scott or Becky led the group in a song. During the manhood ceremony, they sang,

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Rise up, O men of God. At the womanhood ceremony, they sang, More love to thee. Now, if you know the annuals, you understand how passionate they are about singing and worship and corporate discipleship.

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I love Scott's lifelong devotion for and focus on worshiping God in song. If you've never read his articles and listened to his podcast episodes on the subject, you really should.

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Now we personally didn't sing at either of my children's ceremonies. And to be completely honest, maybe we should have,

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I remember not doing it for Micah's because of the virtual nature of the ceremony, but I didn't really have as good of a reason not to do it for Ivy's.

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All of that to say, you only have one chance to do this with each of your kids. Make it good. Don't have any regrets because you may have made a selfish or immature decision.

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From there, the guys ate a meal before the rest of the ceremony, but the ladies saved their treat until it was nearly over.

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Scott gave the challenge to his son and Becky gave the challenge to her daughter. My wife and I did the same for our kids.

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And then our family and the annuals had a time for other men to challenge the young man and other women to challenge the young lady.

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Give careful thought to which of your guests you'd like to give a challenge and give them enough time to prepare their thoughts.

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This really shouldn't be done by the seat of anyone's pants or the skin of anyone's teeth. This is a big deal. This is important.

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No doubt, if these people have been actively involved in the discipleship of your kids, they will have a valuable challenge to contribute.

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But don't take that for granted. You could also ask the specific speakers maybe to touch on a unique topic to avoid the possibility of everyone sharing thoughts on the same verse.

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Then Scott and I and Becky and my wife presented to our sons and daughters, respectively, a resolution to a code of conduct.

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Scott provides a copy of the two codes of conduct they used in their ceremonies, and we used the same format for our kids.

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The young man's code included 10 character traits and accompanying Bible verses. The young lady's code has some unique items that also overlaps with the other.

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We talked through each of the character traits, read the verses, and commented briefly on them. And then we transitioned to the

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Declaration of Manhood, which is also included in Scott's article. However, I built mine out a little bit more as we walked through the four behaviors of a godly man and read the verses.

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The Annuals had a different version of their Declaration of Womanhood, but we used the first for our daughter. Since our code of conduct and declarations look different than Scott's, I'll include a copy of them to peruse if you're interested.

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You can find them on our blog in the transcript of this episode. Now after walking through all of that, the young person is invited to sign the code of conduct, and then the witnesses, who are present, can sign the document as well.

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This is not merely a sober reminder of the part that they played in the young person's life, but also a promise to continue speaking truth and love for their continued growth and spiritual maturity.

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Signing this document doesn't merely make you all witnesses, you're also signing a covenant. It reads,

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I will endeavor, as often as the Lord allows, to speak the truth in love so as to stimulate you to love and good deeds, and encourage you in your pursuit of godly adulthood so that you may mature in Christ, who is our

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Head. Remember, your child is not simply achieving full -blown mature adult status.

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They have a long journey ahead of them, just like we do, and they need as much help as they can get, just like we do.

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Who better to help them continue maturing than the ones who have helped them mature to this place? After the signing of the documents, we read

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Proverbs 3, 1 -24 for the guys, and Proverbs 31, 10 -31 for the girls.

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A prayer of blessing was then offered on behalf of the young people, and the annuals closed with a song. For the young man, they sang,

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It is well with my soul, and for the young lady, they sang, Be thou my vision. Again, I'm uncertain about the specifics of those particular song choices.

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There are so many songs that could work and would be perfect for this. Perhaps these were their children's favorites. I don't know.

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Either way, I love that the final two things done during the ceremony were praying and singing to God.

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And I also love the fact that there's just so much scripture that can be read and should be read during this ceremony. As far as the annuals are concerned,

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I believe this is where the celebration ended. I'm not certain if the fellowship continued on or if they transitioned to games or the like.

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For my daughter's womanhood ceremony, she opened some gifts and hung out with her cousins and friends afterward. I know, for the

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Brewsters, even with the difficulty of the virtual ceremony for my son, each of these times were sweet and wonderful and exciting and sober and beautiful.

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They marked a turning point in our children where they vowed to put away the foolishness of childishness, and we vowed to help them continue putting on wisdom.

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Now, we've gone a little bit long today, but I hope that you have some ideas sparked in your mind for the feel and progression of this glorious coming -of -age milestone.

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Don't forget to look at the documents I provided and the ones Scott has provided, and be sure to join us next time because we're going to tie up this series by talking a little bit about the transition from child to young adult, and then we'll spend the majority of our time talking about how we transition our young adults to greater and greater maturity.

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As always, please share this series with your friends, and be sure to take advantage of all the resources and special offers we've discussed today.

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Always feel free to email us at counselor at truthloveparent .com or leave a voicemail at 828 -423 -0894.

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If there's any way that we can help you or your young person mature into the image of Christ, we'd love to know. All right,

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Parent for Christ this week and help your children learn to be wise adults. I'll see you later. Truth.

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Love. Parent is part of the Evermind Ministries family and is dedicated to helping you worship God through your parenting.

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So join us next time as we study God's Word to learn how to parent our children for life and godliness. And remember that TLP is a listener -supported ministry.