The Church of England is launching new resources to help parents nurture the faith of their children, starting with prayer.
The resources are designed to build the confidence of parents and guardians in praying together with their children in the home.
The plans, unveiled at General Synod this week, are part of a major drive by the Church of England to encourage parents to be more hands on in nurturing the faith of their children.
A background paper presented to Synod noted that 'parents have the largest influence on their children in matters of faith' and that 90 per cent of Anglican families thought it was important to teach their children about faith.
Despite this, though, less than a third of parents (29 per cent) thought it was their responsibility to teach the faith to their children.
The Church of England said it was important that resources be focused on youth activity after a ComRes poll found that over three-quarter of those who self-identified as Christian (76 per cent) came to faith under the age of 18, while half were below the age of 11.
The first resource developed as part of the Growing Faith strategy is a free 'prayer map' that will be given to 300,000 school children in years 4, 5 and 6 ahead of Thy Kingdom Come, a UK-wide prayer campaign running for 10 days between Ascension and Pentecost.
The Bishop of Ely, Stephen Conway, said that although statistics showed that early years were 'vital for coming to faith', churches were often focusing resources on older age groups.
'If we are not focused on growing faith with children and young people, then we are ignoring reality,' he said.
'Yet it is the area of the church's life which can be left to think about once we've done everything else.
'Growing Faith seeks to re-prioritise and change our church culture so that ministry with children and young people is woven through the structures of each diocese.
'It is not a silver bullet, but the House of Bishops is committed to championing significant change in emphasis and approach.
'It is about parishes, fresh expressions and chaplaincies and working with all schools and colleges, not just Church of England schools, and asking the question: what would it mean to see this through the lens of ministry with children and young people?'
