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Expository Parenting
There is much to be said for men and women who courageously evangelize on college campuses, in prisons, and near shopping centers. After all, the Bible indicates that disciples are primarily made by going out to meet lost people where they are. But make no mistake about if you're a parent, The Great Commission has come to you—in a bassinet, a booster seat, or a bunk-bed.
While other parenting philosophies rely on "what seems to work" (i.e. pragmatism), "what we've always done" (i.e. traditionalism), or "what's right for us" (i.e. relativism), a better perspective is founded upon a biblical teaching the full counsel of God and allowing Scripture to do its work in a child's heart. How do we accomplish this? We must examine the Bible's instructions for pastors, and then apply those principles in the home. In other words, just as the preacher must be committed to expository preaching, so too must the parent be committed to expository parenting.
While other parenting philosophies rely on "what seems to work" (i.e. pragmatism), "what we've always done" (i.e. traditionalism), or "what's right for us" (i.e. relativism), a better perspective is founded upon a biblical teaching the full counsel of God and allowing Scripture to do its work in a child's heart. How do we accomplish this? We must examine the Bible's instructions for pastors, and then apply those principles in the home. In other words, just as the preacher must be committed to expository preaching, so too must the parent be committed to expository parenting.
305 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 8, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 13, 2021
I appreciate the author’s deep passion for God’s word and teaching to our children and applying it to ALL of life, but some of his theology was just plain wrong and his disdain for any other style of preaching besides expository (especially topical) turned me off to this book. It’s more of a book on expository preaching than parenting and the point of the book could have been summed up in a tract, so the 300+pages felt unnecessary. That said, I loved his bold stance on parents teaching their own and underlined quite a bit.
April 27, 2026
This is a must-read for every christian parent.
Don't be put off by frequent similarities shown with parenting/preacher's ministry, since we are to teach our children The Way and the Scripture. I especially loved the chapter "Homemade seminary".
Josh Niemi has done a good job writing a book like no other.
Don't be put off by frequent similarities shown with parenting/preacher's ministry, since we are to teach our children The Way and the Scripture. I especially loved the chapter "Homemade seminary".
Josh Niemi has done a good job writing a book like no other.
September 7, 2025
I am conflicted in writing this review. I wanted to love this book. Expository preaching is my wheelhouse, and the idea that we can apply all throughout our lives, including in rearing our children, is appealing to me. That said, this is really only an okay book that could have been very good.
The book primarily focuses on expository preaching, with parenting being an aside. The book does a good job of setting forth the case for expository preaching. It does so in describing both the content and the mandate for it in the Scripture. The author presents this as a necessity, grounded in sound thoughts from the Word. However, he is too dogmatic in his condemnation (read contempt) for any other style of preaching. He leaves zero room for biblically faithful textual or topical preaching and ensures the reader understands that these are the tools of immature and pragmatic pastors who have no desire to be biblically faithful, but merely tickle the ears of the people and give them what they want. His dogmatism is not limited to expository preaching; his Calvinist doctrine also detracts from the book's quality with snide potshots at those who may object with nuanced disagreements. It is over three hundred pages of browbeating on expository preaching and teaching. It should have been half the length. There is a great deal of irrelevant exposition and information on the subject under discussion. It became a grind after the first hundred pages because of the repetitiveness. The writing was loose and rambling, often leaving me wondering how the content under discussion relates to parenting.
Overall, the book is just blah. If one takes the notion that expositional preaching is a good thing, which most readers picking up this book will doubtless grant, then expositing the Scriptures to your kids in daily devotions is also good. This book will help you firm up that belief. However, if you are looking for a simple, straightforward way to accomplish that task, you will have to look elsewhere.
The book primarily focuses on expository preaching, with parenting being an aside. The book does a good job of setting forth the case for expository preaching. It does so in describing both the content and the mandate for it in the Scripture. The author presents this as a necessity, grounded in sound thoughts from the Word. However, he is too dogmatic in his condemnation (read contempt) for any other style of preaching. He leaves zero room for biblically faithful textual or topical preaching and ensures the reader understands that these are the tools of immature and pragmatic pastors who have no desire to be biblically faithful, but merely tickle the ears of the people and give them what they want. His dogmatism is not limited to expository preaching; his Calvinist doctrine also detracts from the book's quality with snide potshots at those who may object with nuanced disagreements. It is over three hundred pages of browbeating on expository preaching and teaching. It should have been half the length. There is a great deal of irrelevant exposition and information on the subject under discussion. It became a grind after the first hundred pages because of the repetitiveness. The writing was loose and rambling, often leaving me wondering how the content under discussion relates to parenting.
Overall, the book is just blah. If one takes the notion that expositional preaching is a good thing, which most readers picking up this book will doubtless grant, then expositing the Scriptures to your kids in daily devotions is also good. This book will help you firm up that belief. However, if you are looking for a simple, straightforward way to accomplish that task, you will have to look elsewhere.
February 6, 2019
4.5/5 - this book should be required reading for any Christian parent.
What I liked:
—The book is written as an exposition of Paul’s letters to Timothy with the goal to more or less prove that parents should go verse-by-verse with their children through the Bible.
—The author does a great job proving this by making many compelling arguments. He does a good job using scripture within its context to prove this (for the most part).
—I instituted teaching my children catechisms mid-way through the book (which is one of the recommendations) and I’m already seeing the fruit of these memorizations during Bible studies.
—The author also rebukes superficial preaching, topical preaching and passiveness from the pulpit and the parent. This is refreshing.
What I did not like:
—It is certainly not a highly practical book in that it doesn’t give a lot of solid tips or examples on how to go verse-by-verse. In fact, the majority of the book seems geared towards explaining expository preaching and then gives a brief summary of how to apply that to expository parenting.
—The chapter on homeschooling is legalistic. The author commits the same hermeneutical errors he rails against in other chapters by using scripture out of context to attempt to prove his point.
—I learned a lot from this book, but actually more about doctrine and the exposition of the letters to Timothy than I did about parenting.
What I liked:
—The book is written as an exposition of Paul’s letters to Timothy with the goal to more or less prove that parents should go verse-by-verse with their children through the Bible.
—The author does a great job proving this by making many compelling arguments. He does a good job using scripture within its context to prove this (for the most part).
—I instituted teaching my children catechisms mid-way through the book (which is one of the recommendations) and I’m already seeing the fruit of these memorizations during Bible studies.
—The author also rebukes superficial preaching, topical preaching and passiveness from the pulpit and the parent. This is refreshing.
What I did not like:
—It is certainly not a highly practical book in that it doesn’t give a lot of solid tips or examples on how to go verse-by-verse. In fact, the majority of the book seems geared towards explaining expository preaching and then gives a brief summary of how to apply that to expository parenting.
—The chapter on homeschooling is legalistic. The author commits the same hermeneutical errors he rails against in other chapters by using scripture out of context to attempt to prove his point.
—I learned a lot from this book, but actually more about doctrine and the exposition of the letters to Timothy than I did about parenting.
January 3, 2021
Convicting for any Christian to read and understand a verse by verse, chapter by chapter approach to the Bible. This is true is corporate worship, personal worship, and family worship. Best book of the year!
Did Not Finish
April 20, 2024This book is so basic that I struggled with it. I'll admit, I only read about 100 pages, and I even ended up skipping chunks of that.
If this is the first time you've heard the word "Expository" then this might be a good read for you. I found the book so completely basic and fundamental that it said nothing. He himself fails to exposit the child raising passages within Deuteronomy, Malachi, the Proverbs, or Ephesians. He admits they exist, but never puts them in context or explains them. He just tosses them aside and says the Bible doesn't have an answer for parenting.
First of all. I think he is putting the cart before the horse. He discusses pastoring before parenting. It seemed to me like he started this conversation with, "well, everyone is already a great pastor, now we just have to make them great dads." Or that everyone knows that a great pastor would make a great dad. And I say this tongue in cheek because he then discussed what it meant to be a pastor.
It is like he looked out into our culture and saw a vast land filled with pastors, and then thought those men needed help becoming parents.
A few things are wrong with that idea. First, our culture is a vast wasteland of fatherlessness. Men are struggling to even be men and raise their own children. Not even raise them in the church, or raise them to know Christ, but to raise them with any morals or values, to just be in the house with them. Men simply are not raising their children.
Next, our culture is not filled with pastors. Our culture has created men that tickle ears, and are overly focused with getting people in seats on Sunday morning. My small town has . . . at least 7 protestant churches (churches that I would even consider going to, there are also two Catholic churches, Mormons, Jehovah's Witness, and Seventh-Day Adventist, I wouldn't go looking to any of those for solid Biblical preaching). Of the 7 churches that aren't dedicated to idols, two of them have men worth listening to. Not even necessarily Biblical Expositors like this author wants. Men who will at least open their Bible, give a decent sermon, and can coherently string words together to make a sentence.
It gets even worse out in the country. I don't know of a single church worth going to between here and the next big city (about 100 miles).
Don't get me wrong, I haven't been to all of those churches, but I haven't seen or heard anything about anyone preaching anywhere.
Where are all of these Biblical pastors who are failing to raise their children like this gentleman is suggesting?
The fact is, the Bible's requirements for pastors is to be a good father first. Family goes before the church; the family is the primary ministry you have been given. This author's foundation is wrong, he needs to start with being a Biblical father, being a Biblical man, then he can move into being a good minister of the word. The requirements for ministry are the same as the requirements for being a maturing Christian, just MORE SO.
Even building on the wrong foundation, the man is still so simplistic in his approach. He spends the first 70 pages of his book (nearly 25% of the book) just explaining and convincing pastors to use expository preaching.
Now, I agree with him. I picked up this book hoping for insight into Biblical fatherhood, and he isn't wrong, but who is that 70 pages for? Pastors failing to raise their kids? Parents seeking advice on Biblical childrearing?
If the answer is pastors, then he doesn't go far enough. He fails to explain how to Biblically Exposit, or what Biblical Exposition looks like to a modern audience. He also never addresses other issues within the church outside of the sermon. Is child segregated ministry still okay? Children's church? VBS and Sunday school programs? Can we support families without dividing them for church programs? Is that what he would envision?
Honestly, the issue finally catching up to churches is that parents abdicated their responsibility to their children, and the church stepped in to try to fill the gap. The church does not have jurisdictional authority when it comes to raising children and needs to back off.
If the answer is this book is for parents, then we go in the wrong direction. What/how do we act when our church isn't expositing? What does exposition at home look like?
I think this was his next section, but his great revelation was to read the Bible to your children.
Again, we are so basic here, that we are saying nothing.
People who know this information are not being helped by rehashing basic information. People who have never heard the word exposition probably aren't picking up your book, and you don't tell them enough to know how to guide their church or make changes in their lives.
I don't know if it comes up later, but as far as I had read, he never mentioned homeschooling. He never mentioned the role of the church v. the role of the parent.
I was not impressed. This thing just put me to sleep and never seemed to go anywhere.
Rob Rienow's Visionary Family ministries and books were much more useful and interesting.
The Dad Difference was also a solid read, at least it explained the basic of why a father is important.
John McArthur also has a book called: What the Bible Says About Parenting. It is also pretty basic, but I don't remember it being as basic as this.
If this is the first time you've heard the word "Expository" then this might be a good read for you. I found the book so completely basic and fundamental that it said nothing. He himself fails to exposit the child raising passages within Deuteronomy, Malachi, the Proverbs, or Ephesians. He admits they exist, but never puts them in context or explains them. He just tosses them aside and says the Bible doesn't have an answer for parenting.
First of all. I think he is putting the cart before the horse. He discusses pastoring before parenting. It seemed to me like he started this conversation with, "well, everyone is already a great pastor, now we just have to make them great dads." Or that everyone knows that a great pastor would make a great dad. And I say this tongue in cheek because he then discussed what it meant to be a pastor.
It is like he looked out into our culture and saw a vast land filled with pastors, and then thought those men needed help becoming parents.
A few things are wrong with that idea. First, our culture is a vast wasteland of fatherlessness. Men are struggling to even be men and raise their own children. Not even raise them in the church, or raise them to know Christ, but to raise them with any morals or values, to just be in the house with them. Men simply are not raising their children.
Next, our culture is not filled with pastors. Our culture has created men that tickle ears, and are overly focused with getting people in seats on Sunday morning. My small town has . . . at least 7 protestant churches (churches that I would even consider going to, there are also two Catholic churches, Mormons, Jehovah's Witness, and Seventh-Day Adventist, I wouldn't go looking to any of those for solid Biblical preaching). Of the 7 churches that aren't dedicated to idols, two of them have men worth listening to. Not even necessarily Biblical Expositors like this author wants. Men who will at least open their Bible, give a decent sermon, and can coherently string words together to make a sentence.
It gets even worse out in the country. I don't know of a single church worth going to between here and the next big city (about 100 miles).
Don't get me wrong, I haven't been to all of those churches, but I haven't seen or heard anything about anyone preaching anywhere.
Where are all of these Biblical pastors who are failing to raise their children like this gentleman is suggesting?
The fact is, the Bible's requirements for pastors is to be a good father first. Family goes before the church; the family is the primary ministry you have been given. This author's foundation is wrong, he needs to start with being a Biblical father, being a Biblical man, then he can move into being a good minister of the word. The requirements for ministry are the same as the requirements for being a maturing Christian, just MORE SO.
Even building on the wrong foundation, the man is still so simplistic in his approach. He spends the first 70 pages of his book (nearly 25% of the book) just explaining and convincing pastors to use expository preaching.
Now, I agree with him. I picked up this book hoping for insight into Biblical fatherhood, and he isn't wrong, but who is that 70 pages for? Pastors failing to raise their kids? Parents seeking advice on Biblical childrearing?
If the answer is pastors, then he doesn't go far enough. He fails to explain how to Biblically Exposit, or what Biblical Exposition looks like to a modern audience. He also never addresses other issues within the church outside of the sermon. Is child segregated ministry still okay? Children's church? VBS and Sunday school programs? Can we support families without dividing them for church programs? Is that what he would envision?
Honestly, the issue finally catching up to churches is that parents abdicated their responsibility to their children, and the church stepped in to try to fill the gap. The church does not have jurisdictional authority when it comes to raising children and needs to back off.
If the answer is this book is for parents, then we go in the wrong direction. What/how do we act when our church isn't expositing? What does exposition at home look like?
I think this was his next section, but his great revelation was to read the Bible to your children.
Again, we are so basic here, that we are saying nothing.
People who know this information are not being helped by rehashing basic information. People who have never heard the word exposition probably aren't picking up your book, and you don't tell them enough to know how to guide their church or make changes in their lives.
I don't know if it comes up later, but as far as I had read, he never mentioned homeschooling. He never mentioned the role of the church v. the role of the parent.
I was not impressed. This thing just put me to sleep and never seemed to go anywhere.
Rob Rienow's Visionary Family ministries and books were much more useful and interesting.
The Dad Difference was also a solid read, at least it explained the basic of why a father is important.
John McArthur also has a book called: What the Bible Says About Parenting. It is also pretty basic, but I don't remember it being as basic as this.
October 11, 2023
Ouch. Every so often you read something you wish you hadn’t. Not because you regret it; and not because it was inappropriate. But because you are now aware of something you weren’t. Now you are responsible for more knowledge and understanding you previously weren’t. Such is the case with this book…
“Expository Parenting” rose the ranks of my reading list over the past two years, thanks foremost to the daily Facebook page which includes excerpts from the book itself. It’s chocked full of wisdom, but more than that, it’s stuffed full of hard truths. I like hard truths; I appreciate unavoidable facts, and I am thankful for inescapable conclusions. Synchronizing my mind and my heart and my actions to these truths is the painful part.
Author Josh Niemi uses Paul’s ministry, specifically Paul’s pastoral epistles to his protégé Timothy, as the biblical basis for the average Christian parent in raising and teaching their children. He reasons and exposits that as the pastor cares and instructs his flock, so the parent does with the child. Verse by verse, book by book, as early and often as possible, within reason. Never letting up, and never giving the devil room to maneuver. It’s a tall order, and it sounds exhausting. I also believe it to be true and accurate and worthwhile.
“Expository Parenting” rose the ranks of my reading list over the past two years, thanks foremost to the daily Facebook page which includes excerpts from the book itself. It’s chocked full of wisdom, but more than that, it’s stuffed full of hard truths. I like hard truths; I appreciate unavoidable facts, and I am thankful for inescapable conclusions. Synchronizing my mind and my heart and my actions to these truths is the painful part.
Author Josh Niemi uses Paul’s ministry, specifically Paul’s pastoral epistles to his protégé Timothy, as the biblical basis for the average Christian parent in raising and teaching their children. He reasons and exposits that as the pastor cares and instructs his flock, so the parent does with the child. Verse by verse, book by book, as early and often as possible, within reason. Never letting up, and never giving the devil room to maneuver. It’s a tall order, and it sounds exhausting. I also believe it to be true and accurate and worthwhile.
October 13, 2021
Excellent, excellent content! Such an important message for parents and future parents about the absolute necessity of sound exposition of Scripture for all of life, including raising children.
One star off because there is a lot of repetition--the book could have been half as long and still covered the same material competently. The first third or so of the book especially belabored the points being made. The later practical application was more helpful and easier to read.
One star off because there is a lot of repetition--the book could have been half as long and still covered the same material competently. The first third or so of the book especially belabored the points being made. The later practical application was more helpful and easier to read.
November 8, 2025
Overall this is a biblical and helpful book. It is a passionate call to teaching the full counsel of God to our kids.
I respectfully disagree with Niemi's taking a hard stance on certain points of child raising. He takes an uncompromising stance on nuance and conscience issues, such as using children's bibles, homeschooling, and sequential preaching. While I appreciate his points, he is pretty heavy handed with opinions.
I respectfully disagree with Niemi's taking a hard stance on certain points of child raising. He takes an uncompromising stance on nuance and conscience issues, such as using children's bibles, homeschooling, and sequential preaching. While I appreciate his points, he is pretty heavy handed with opinions.
June 18, 2024
Overall this book is consistent with the repetition theme of teaching your children the Bible. A worthwhile theme to repeat. Throughout there are a few really applicable and worthwhile pieces of advice for exhorting children of all ages with the word of God. If you have young children, worth picking up.
January 30, 2019
Worth the read!
Do you want to become a better parent? A parent that teaches about God and Jesus? This is a book that I recommend for anyone. Wants to find courage 2 be the father or mother that God has called them to be administering and discipling to their children.
Do you want to become a better parent? A parent that teaches about God and Jesus? This is a book that I recommend for anyone. Wants to find courage 2 be the father or mother that God has called them to be administering and discipling to their children.
August 30, 2024
The premise is strong, the writing Biblical but it just didn't grab me. The first chapter felt very familiar of all the other Biblically based parenting books I've read.
I would imagine if I found this book shortly after my first kiddo I would've devoured it, soaking in every word.
I would imagine if I found this book shortly after my first kiddo I would've devoured it, soaking in every word.
March 28, 2018
This book should be a mandatory read for any Christian parent. I was convicted and encouraged and convicted and encouraged over and over again.
December 19, 2021
This book was a gift from my pastor. Really good. Some of it comes across as a bit legalistic, but I was definitely convicted and encouraged by this read.
May 30, 2022
We can never overemphasize the importance of systemic Bible study with our children! This book takes you through the why and how of expository Bible study that we are called to do with our children.
July 3, 2022
I loved a lot about this book and learned a ton from it. I found parts of it to be unnecessarily repetitive and it didn't need a full 300 pages but I did enjoy it and learned a lot.
July 8, 2023
great for parents
This is a must read for all christian parents. I will be purchasing copies for others. Get this, read it, love the lord.
This is a must read for all christian parents. I will be purchasing copies for others. Get this, read it, love the lord.
June 1, 2018
fantastic from beginning to end
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