Weave writer Karen Hardin shares about Parenting With a Global Vision, a brand new CMM resource that inspires families to take the front seat in mobilization by showing them how to live on mission together. In an interview with Karen, she talks about how this unique study provides a whole new perspective to the mission world by including parents and their children in the Great Commission. Read below for more!
First of all, what is Weave and its mission? Can you give us a brief history?
Weave was launched in 2013 as the family mobilization ministry of the CMM. Weave provides training and resources that connect families worldwide to the global story of God and equip parents to embrace the Great Commission as a core vision of home discipleship. One of Weave’s key strategies is developing partnerships with global leaders who have a vision for family mobilization and a desire to multiply it in their local region.
What need or inspirations drove Weave to come up with this unique parent study?
Most resources and trainings which challenge believers to become involved in mission focus on college students, business people, or even retirees. The idea of parents and their children serving together in God’s mission is seldom addressed; yet, families are the basic unit of all societies and God has always worked through generations of families to bless the nations. Weave wanted to create a study that affirms the important role of families in God’s story and encourages families to join with God in reaching the nations, especially those without access to the gospel. Weave realizes that Christian parents want to raise their children to love and follow Jesus for a lifetime. We wanted to create a study that expands common thinking on family discipleship to include mission as a core component. Parenting with a Global Vision helps create this paradigm shift in the hearts and minds of Christian parents as they raise their families.
Who is this study intended to reach?
It is designed for parents who desire to raise their children to love and follow Jesus. These parents are probably growing Christians who already pray, read God’s Word, and serve in their local church. But for the most part, they view the Great Commission as a task with specialized roles only for “missionaries,” church leaders, and evangelists. These parents are unaware of the potential of families like theirs to be used in God’s mission.
How does the study bring change for parents and their children?
- The Parenting With a Global Vision study gives parents confidence that as believers, they and their children are invited and qualified to join with God reaching the unreached with the gospel.
- It offers parents a God-centered framework for studying and discussing the Bible with their family in light of God’s overarching purpose of making His name great among the nations. We want families to understand that God blesses His people for a greater purpose than just themselves. Everything God has blessed their family with, even the unique time in history in which they live, and the specific place on the planet where He has placed them, is part of God’s plan and can be leveraged for the purpose of spreading the message of Jesus to those who haven’t heard.
- It gives parents simple ways for their family to learn about, pray for, and engage with unreached people groups.
- It provides parents with simple ways to begin integrating World Christian habits into the daily routines and rhythms of family life.
What are the desired outcomes for participants who go through the Parenting With a Global Vision study?
We want participants to move from viewing mission as activity that we do for God- a short-term trip for youth, a feeding program, a construction project- to seeing mission as joining with God in what He is already doing to make Himself known and worshiped among the nations. We want people to understand that God has used families as a part of His strategy to bless the nations throughout history and realize that God invites them to join in spreading the message of salvation. We would love to see families become aware of the current reality for millions of unreached peoples. Instead of being oblivious to unreached peoples living in their region, or being fearful of them, we want participants to begin to view these peoples with God’s compassion and reach out to them. We want them to understand the potential their children have in participating in God’s mission, even when they are young. Weave seeks to help families start practicing World Christian habits and begin incorporating these habits into their family life in a sustainable and ongoing manner.
Who can use this study?
It is designed for Christian parents with children between the ages of 4-12.
Can this study also be used for small groups within churches?
Yes, it can be used by small groups of parents within a church. Each lesson includes both a personal study section and a group discussion guide. Ideally, parents complete the personal study on their own at home first. Then they meet together in community, using the group activities to process lesson concepts and going deeper into what application looks like in daily life.
Does Parenting With a Global Vision help mobilize churches to mission?
Yes. Parenting with a Global Vision is a key tool in mobilizing churches. Lessons cast vision for God’s global heart and mission among families within local congregations. Content focuses on the potential of all believers- including parents and their children- to join in God’s mission. The goal is to create heart change within parents that leads to lifestyle change within their families. The content lends itself to a key component of mobilization effort: multiplication. Lessons are designed simply so that parents who have already gone through the study can easily take other parents in their church through the same study.
Who created and wrote this study?
Our Weave team wrote this study and partnered with the CMM Creative Studio on the design elements and production. To ensure that the content would be relevant in a variety of cultural contexts, Weave sought out and incorporated feedback from CMM leaders and training partners in different regions of the world. This spring, Weave launched a pilot study with over twelve small groups of parents.
Is Weave dreaming of more resources they might offer in the future?
Since Parenting with a Global Vision and the Big Story Series are both key components of Weave’s family mobilization strategy, our primary focus for the coming year is on translating these resources into the major languages used by our global partners and equipping these global partners to implement them in within their local contexts. Although we do have some ideas for new resources in mind, translation and implementation of our current ones are priority right Weave right now.
Can this parent study be used as companion study to the Weave’s Big Story training?
Yes. The Big Story training is an initial vision-casting tool which gives parents a taste of why mobilizing their families is important. The six-week parent study is a great follow-up resource which allows parents to wrestle with and reflect on many of the same concepts, but in a much deeper way, and over a longer period of time. In places where a multi-day large group training may not be feasible, the Parenting with a Global Vision study can be used in its place. Parenting with a Global Vision is also a companion to Weave’s Big Story Series, a three-book set which gives parents practical ways to engage their children in God’s Word, world, and work as a part of ongoing family discipleship.
How can people or churches access this new resource and what formats does Weave offer it in?
Parenting with a Global Vision will be available both as a printed book and as a free download. This study will be available in late summer/fall of 2021 at weavefamily.org.
What is Weave’s biggest dream for the demographic they are trying to impact?
Weave’s vision statement is “Every family mobilized until the unreached are reached.” Our ultimate dream is to see families around the world embrace God’s heart and purposes for the nations and live out the World Christian habits together in an ongoing way. We want these practices to become so ingrained that they become a mission lifestyle; a lifestyle that evolves with children into their adulthood and as they become parents. Families who embrace and live out God’s mission consistently, and who raise their sons and daughters who will mobilize their own families to mission, is one of the most critical roles in seeing the Great Commission come to fulfillment.