What do you think?
Rate this book
Gospel Centered
Gospel Centred Family by Tim Chester
Numerous books set out to help Christian parents in the challenging mission of raising their children well-so what's different about this one? Well, the answer's in the title! It's not about how the gospel fits into Christian family life, but how family life should fit into the gospel-God's greatest purpose for this universe, achieved in Christ.
Many books aim to raise up competent, balanced parents and well-trained, well-rounded children. But Tim Chester and Ed Moll focus on families growing God-knowing, Christ-confessing, grace-receiving, servant-hearted, mission-minded believers-adults and children together.
Christian families should be about...
- not just making good citizens but also church planters, missionaries, reformers, servants and evangelists
- not just learning about God but also showing Him to others;
- not just controlling behaviour but also changing the heart;
- not just parents and children, but being an integral part of the wider church family.
In twelve concise chapters, Gospel-Centered Family takes us through the major Bible principles for family life, challenging us to give up our 'respectable' middle-class idols, and to become the distinctively different people that God, through His gospel, calls us to be.
Many books aim to raise up competent, balanced parents and well-trained, well-rounded children. But Tim Chester and Ed Moll focus on families growing God-knowing, Christ-confessing, grace-receiving, servant-hearted, mission-minded believers-adults and children together.
Christian families should be about...
- not just making good citizens but also church planters, missionaries, reformers, servants and evangelists
- not just learning about God but also showing Him to others;
- not just controlling behaviour but also changing the heart;
- not just parents and children, but being an integral part of the wider church family.
In twelve concise chapters, Gospel-Centered Family takes us through the major Bible principles for family life, challenging us to give up our 'respectable' middle-class idols, and to become the distinctively different people that God, through His gospel, calls us to be.
Paperback
First published April 1, 2009
37 people are currently reading
202 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
August 11, 2011
One of the best parenting books I've read. Possibly the best. I like the fact that it's not written to people who want to try harder but to repenting sinners desperate for grace through Christ. Most parenting books are how-to manuals for dealing with childish sins. This helps with that endeavor, but it's more about applying to Gospel to our own lives and experiencing the grace of Christ in such a way that we can both require obedience and show mercy, leading our children to Christ.
August 18, 2015
Best Christian book I've ever read. Best parenting book I've ever read. Short, punchy 3-4 page chapters with some questions to work through after each. Could meditate on every sentence written. If you're a Christian living in a comfortable, 1st world society, it's a wonderful book to uncover hidden desires/idols that you haven't thought about. So encouraging and easy to put into practice.
June 24, 2020
This is the kind of book I need to ready every year or two. Gospel-centred and extremely practical. Highly recommended.
February 17, 2012
Great, short little book. Certainly had loads of great application, illustrations and most importantly solidly based upon scriptural truth. A God glorifying book on how God would intend a family to be. Highly recommended
December 29, 2014
Brilliant book. I can't recommend it enough. This is what being a Christian family is about - living according to the gospel. Very realistic, practical, doable. Only 90 pages long, and each chapter is very short. And it only costs about $8. Get it.
January 1, 2019
I like Tim Chester and the way he writes.
The book is a collection of 12 essays or sermons about various topics about "Becoming the Parents God Wants You to Be".
His work here is challenging and encouraging....
He says Christian families should be about
-not just making good citizens but also church planters, missionaries, reformers, servants, and evangelists
-not just learning about God, but also show Him to others
-not just controlling behavior, but also changing the heart
-no just establishing parents and children as a family unit, but also about them being part of a wider church family
He challenges parents to give up 'respectable middle-class idols', and to become distinctly different people that God, through His gospel calls us to be.
This books causes me to pray for family and friends as parents and myself as a grandparent now.
Great ideas here.
The book is a collection of 12 essays or sermons about various topics about "Becoming the Parents God Wants You to Be".
His work here is challenging and encouraging....
He says Christian families should be about
-not just making good citizens but also church planters, missionaries, reformers, servants, and evangelists
-not just learning about God, but also show Him to others
-not just controlling behavior, but also changing the heart
-no just establishing parents and children as a family unit, but also about them being part of a wider church family
He challenges parents to give up 'respectable middle-class idols', and to become distinctly different people that God, through His gospel calls us to be.
This books causes me to pray for family and friends as parents and myself as a grandparent now.
Great ideas here.
December 24, 2023
Great practical book with great ideas/questions and reminders. Very helpful for talking with a spouse over the way we are parenting. There were a few small things I didn't agree with methodologically (counting to 3 for obedience, for example) but overall the wisdom and application were Christ-centered and helpful.
June 12, 2025
3.5 Stars.
Really good, solid stuff. Obviously not relevant to me, but I like to read things that either could be useful to me someday or I could give to others. This book is particularly good at giving realistic fake scenarios that are relatable and make the gospel applicable.
Really good, solid stuff. Obviously not relevant to me, but I like to read things that either could be useful to me someday or I could give to others. This book is particularly good at giving realistic fake scenarios that are relatable and make the gospel applicable.
June 3, 2017
Wonderful resource and exercise booklet.
August 30, 2017
So many powerful truths and reminders in this book.
August 14, 2019
Practical stuff to think about.
September 26, 2013
This is a short book on the family. At times I struggled with what the overarching plan for the book was. To be fair, in the introduction they make it plan that this book is not exhaustive and is designed to be very accessible in bite size proportions: "We divided the book into lots of short chapters to make it easy to read between changing diapers and cleaning up vomit or giving lifts and washing sports kit. The short chapters also mean you could read it as a couple after a long day" (page 6). Overall the writing is a bit choppy as well. Chapter 2 was very helpful in challenging parents to consider what they are most excited about with their children.
Here were some helpful quotes:
"The number one aim as a parent is to show how great it is to live under God's reign of love" (14).
"Often our true values are revealed in the expectations we have for our children. On Sunday in church we sing about how knowing Jesus is the greatest thing. But our priorities and hopes for our children suggest that what matters most in life is educational development, career development, social development, skills development" (18).
"The problem is not my children's behavior. The problem is my desires battling with God for control of my heart. Sure, my children misbehave. But when my heart is undivided in its allegiance to God, I respond with calm and loving discipline. But if my selfish desires are ruling my heart, then I'll respond wrongly. My discipline gets distorted by my selfishness" (26-27).
"If we feel condemned, we won't communicate grace, making us feel still more condemned. If we want our families to be gospel-centered, then we most bring the gospel to bear on our own failures. If we can't bring our parenting sins to the cross, then we don't have any good news to celebrate. We can't communicate grace to our children if we're not communicating it o our own hearts" (33).
"But if your aim is to teach your child the ways of God, then your discipline will be calm, clear, consistent and concentrated on the motives of their heart. The goal is not control-that is your agenda. God's agenda is a child who delights to know and serve Him" (39).
"In the last chapter we looked at the importance of influencing our child's heart rather than controlling their behavior. The reality is that we're always influencing our child's heart even when we're trying to control their behavior. The question is: How are we influencing their heart?" (46).
"So we need to communicate grace to our children. That doesn't mean no discipline at all. That's not how grace works with God. Grace takes sin very seriously- much more seriously than legalism (which thinks we can overcome sin through our own effort) or license (which thinks sin doesn't matter very much). Grace says sin matters so much that Jesus had to die in our place" (46-47).
The following were areas of concern or disagreement for me in this book.
-Remarkably the authors suggest counting to 5 and giving the children a change to obey during that time. I agree with those that such an approach is teaching them how long they can disobey (40).
-He is a bit sloppy with what legalism is: "We're natural-born legalists. A legalist is someone who tries to make the grade by doing the right things" (46). I am just not sure what he means by "grade."
'
-He asks when the last time you as a parent said to your children "sorry." I would suggest that it should be that we ask our children to forgive us for our sin that we commit against the, (49).
-He takes the majority position on what adoption is
-I wish he would have defined more clearly what this means in the context of the chapter and the book at large: "There's an old African saying which goes: "It takes a village to raise a child". Or we might say: "It takes a whole church to raise a child" (83).
In the end this book does not tip the scales into highly profitable, but there is some profit here.
Here were some helpful quotes:
"The number one aim as a parent is to show how great it is to live under God's reign of love" (14).
"Often our true values are revealed in the expectations we have for our children. On Sunday in church we sing about how knowing Jesus is the greatest thing. But our priorities and hopes for our children suggest that what matters most in life is educational development, career development, social development, skills development" (18).
"The problem is not my children's behavior. The problem is my desires battling with God for control of my heart. Sure, my children misbehave. But when my heart is undivided in its allegiance to God, I respond with calm and loving discipline. But if my selfish desires are ruling my heart, then I'll respond wrongly. My discipline gets distorted by my selfishness" (26-27).
"If we feel condemned, we won't communicate grace, making us feel still more condemned. If we want our families to be gospel-centered, then we most bring the gospel to bear on our own failures. If we can't bring our parenting sins to the cross, then we don't have any good news to celebrate. We can't communicate grace to our children if we're not communicating it o our own hearts" (33).
"But if your aim is to teach your child the ways of God, then your discipline will be calm, clear, consistent and concentrated on the motives of their heart. The goal is not control-that is your agenda. God's agenda is a child who delights to know and serve Him" (39).
"In the last chapter we looked at the importance of influencing our child's heart rather than controlling their behavior. The reality is that we're always influencing our child's heart even when we're trying to control their behavior. The question is: How are we influencing their heart?" (46).
"So we need to communicate grace to our children. That doesn't mean no discipline at all. That's not how grace works with God. Grace takes sin very seriously- much more seriously than legalism (which thinks we can overcome sin through our own effort) or license (which thinks sin doesn't matter very much). Grace says sin matters so much that Jesus had to die in our place" (46-47).
The following were areas of concern or disagreement for me in this book.
-Remarkably the authors suggest counting to 5 and giving the children a change to obey during that time. I agree with those that such an approach is teaching them how long they can disobey (40).
-He is a bit sloppy with what legalism is: "We're natural-born legalists. A legalist is someone who tries to make the grade by doing the right things" (46). I am just not sure what he means by "grade."
'
-He asks when the last time you as a parent said to your children "sorry." I would suggest that it should be that we ask our children to forgive us for our sin that we commit against the, (49).
-He takes the majority position on what adoption is
-I wish he would have defined more clearly what this means in the context of the chapter and the book at large: "There's an old African saying which goes: "It takes a village to raise a child". Or we might say: "It takes a whole church to raise a child" (83).
In the end this book does not tip the scales into highly profitable, but there is some profit here.
June 6, 2022
Good for small group discipleship
July 6, 2014
Great little book with twelve short chapters, each giving a short parenting principle that is Biblically based. What I really liked was the focus on attitudes and heart-priorities rather than what to do (although there are some practical tips as well). Very big picture which is helpful as I think with parenting it is easy to get bogged down in small everyday things.
May 22, 2016
Great little book! Very thought provoking on keeping the gospel and it's outworking at the center of your family life. It packs a punch in very small chapters, which is good for busy parents. The reflection questions at the end of the each chapter are some of the best I've read on this kind of topic.
January 31, 2017
Gospel Centered Family was a great book that looks at several Biblical principles in regards to the family. The Bible says so much. GCF was divided into 12 short chapters, so it can be added to any devotion time. The book included questions to interact with Scripture as well as follow up application questions. Overall, a great read.
December 10, 2011
I'm on my third time through this book...it's good enough and short enough to re-read over and over. Lots of the same principles you'd find in greater detail in Tedd Tripp's work...this is kind of like the Cliff's Notes version.
May 9, 2012
Ed Moll and Tim Chester have written an excellent, short book on what a gospel-centered family should look like. If you want to grow in your parenting (and don't want to read more than 100 pages), this is the book to read.
May 14, 2013
Absolutely the best, most concise, hard-hitting and applicable parenting book I've ever read.
This one is heading for my church library to be a blessing to many! Feel like buying copies for all my friends too.
This one is heading for my church library to be a blessing to many! Feel like buying copies for all my friends too.
November 23, 2015
A wonderful, concise, & gospel saturated look at family. I highly recommend grabbing a copy whether you are single, married without kids, or are married with kids. Great practical advice on every page.
November 4, 2013
Just terrific. And short.
April 26, 2016
This is the second time I have read this book, and it won't be the last. An excellent read for Christian parents.
September 3, 2013
practical, Christ-centered hope for parents!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews