Recorded late in 2001 at a Covenant Life Church parent-youth meeting, this fifth clip in our “C.J. + Carolyn on Parenting” series provides an opportunity for the couple to explain some of their most humbling mistakes. Grant Layman’s question was simple and direct: “What sins have you personally confronted in yourselves in regard to parenting?”

5. Fear + Unbelief in Parenting (3:46)

Other clips in the series:

1. Gospel-Centered Parenting + Young Children (9:27)

2. The Gospel + Parental Sin (2:39)

3. The Gospel + Discipline (5:37)

4. Teaching Children to Love the Church (10:59)

 

        
Sifting through stacks of audio recordings, we keep an ear out for recordings of C.J. and Carolyn together on the topic of parenting. There aren’t many of these recordings (to date only two), but those we have found are being evaluated and excerpted here.

This fourth audio clip in our series was recorded late in 2001 at a Covenant Life Church Tuesday night parent-youth meeting. Covenant Life pastor Grant Layman moderated the panel, which included C.J. and Carolyn and two of their daughters, Nicole and Janelle.

Today’s clip focuses on these questions: How do parents transfer a love for the local church to their children? How does making the church family a priority shape the priorities of the immediate family? How does this priority affect a child’s involvement in sports and other activities? Plus, C.J. reveals how this priority in one father—and a desire to marry that father’s daughter—helped to inaugurate Covenant Life Church.

Listen here:

4. Teaching Children to Love the Church (10:59)



Other clips in the series:

1. Gospel-Centered Parenting + Young Children (9:27)
2. The Gospel + Parental Sin (2:39)
3. The Gospel + Discipline (5:37)

Scripture presents the discipline of children as an expression of the father’s love for them (Proverbs 3:11–12, Hebrews 12:3–11). But what exactly does this loving discipline look like in the shadow of the cross?

This third audio clip originates from the same setting as the first two: an unplanned Q&A session with C.J. and Carolyn during a Sovereign Grace conference in Gilbert, Arizona (Nov. 2005). Answering a question posed by Carolyn, C.J. explains how parents can bring discipline to their children with humble hearts informed by the gospel.

3. The Gospel + Discipline (5:37)



Other clips in this series:

1. Gospel-Centered Parenting + Young Children (9:27)
2. The Gospel + Parental Sin (2:39)

Scripture calls parents to study their children, to identify and address sin patterns in their lives, to discipline, and teach them with the goal of raising them “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4 ESV). But what about when parents sin against their children? How should parents respond? Do parents excuse themselves because the child provoked the sin? Do they justify their sin because they have parental authority over the child? Do they simply ignore their own sin?

This second audio clip originates from the same setting as the first: an unplanned Q&A session with C.J. and Carolyn during a Sovereign Grace conference in Gilbert, Arizona (Nov. 2005). In it C.J. explains how parents may approach these situations, remain in authority over their children, yet do this with a humble heart informed by the gospel.

2. The gospel + parental sins (2:39)



Other clips in this series:

1. Gospel-Centered Parenting + Young Children (9:27).

 

Opportunities to hear C.J. and Carolyn Mahaney answer questions about parenting are helpful. Unfortunately those opportunities, and any record of those answers, are quite rare (though C.J. wishes none of his recordings existed).

We’ve tracked down several settings where the Mahaneys did share about this important topic. These include a Mahaney family Q&A session at Covenant Life Church in 2002, an unplanned conference Q&A in 2005, and various private settings to serve pastors in training. So each week—as long as we can find clips—the blog will feature one audio excerpt from C.J. and Carolyn on the topic of parenting.

The first audio clip originates from an unplanned Q&A session with C.J. and Carolyn during a Sovereign Grace conference in Gilbert, Arizona (Nov. 2005). The question: How do parents engage in gospel-centered parenting with children who are too young to comprehend the message of the gospel?

1. Gospel-Centered Parenting + Young Children (6:10)