The Handoff: How to Pass Your Faith to Future Generations

By Gayle Veitenheimer

Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come. Psalm 71:18

The handoff. The trickiest part of a relay. 

Races have been won and lost at the handoff. 

But the stakes are higher than shiny medals when we’re talking about our faith. 

No matter how your handoff went with your own kids, you have another opportunity with the grandchildren. 

If you’re like me, helping your grandkids navigate their faith ranks high on the priority list. One way to put solid ground under their feet is to bless them. 

Who can we bless? Anyone, really, but grandchildren, for sure. If your kids are open, bless them too. Jacob was well into adulthood when Isaac blessed him (Genesis 27:27-29). 

What is a blessing? The biblical blessing is seen throughout Scripture. Jacob blessed all twelve of his sons (Genesis 49:1-28). God blessed Jesus after His baptism (Matthew 3:16-17). When I was growing up, we blessed the food but not much else. My husband and I decided to change that when we had children. Gary Smalley taught us how. Gary Smalley’s book, The Blessing, outlines five elements seen in biblical blessing: 

• Meaningful touch. 
• Spoken words. 
• Attaching high value. 
• Picturing a special future. 
• An active commitment.

When and where do we give the blessing? Anytime and anywhere. However, blessings can give added significance to special occasions, milestones, birthdays, and holidays. 

Why give a blessing? Scripture offers the blessing as a way to encourage future generations to walk out their faith, knowing they have the support of those who have gone before them. It helps to anchor them in their relationship with God and in their family relationships.

How? Let’s walk through the five elements. Don’t try to wing this. Personalize the blessing for each grandchild and write these out ahead of time. I’ll have a template for you at the end of this post. 

1. Meaningful touch: Small children can sit in your lap for a blessing. For older children, you can place your hands on their head or shoulders. Make eye contact as well. 

And he [Jesus] took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. Mark 10:16

2. Spoken words: Offer words of love, acceptance, and affirmation. Remind them that they are part of a family. Remind them of their identity as a child of God.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Ephesians 1:4

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16

3. Attaching high value: Think about what gives a child value. I challenge you to steer clear of talents and giftings. We don’t want kids thinking that their value comes from what they do or don’t do. Their intrinsic worth comes from God. As His image-bearer, their worth has been established. Forever.  

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

4. Picturing a special future: Verses abound here!

…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Jeremiah 29:11

Insert their names into these verses or tie your grandchild’s character to that of a biblical figure.

Ex. May Nicholas become a man after God’s own heart just like King David. May Elyse be like Queen Esther and serve her generation for such a time as this. 

5. An active commitment: This is our part. Here, we commit to showing up any and every way we can. 

• Phone calls
• FaceTime
• Letters, notes, postcards
• Visits
• Magazine subscriptions like Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse, Clubhouse, Jr., and Brio magazines, depending on their ages

Here’s a blessing God used in Numbers 6:22-26:

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

The baton is in your hand. Nail your handoff.

Here’s a template for creating your own blessings.