In an era where public schools, social media, and modern culture are constantly competing for our children’s attention, one father is determined to keep the promises of God front and centre. Benjamin Shuhyta, who is on the cusp of being ordained as a Presbyterian minister, recognises that discipleship is more than just an hour of church on Sundays. For him and his family, it’s a daily practice.
This commitment to family discipleship led Benjamin to take part in the pilot of PYNSW’s Family Discipleship course, an initiative designed to support parents in the task of raising children who know and love Jesus.
Benjamin didn’t grow up in a Christian home. He came to know Christ through primary school Scripture teaching, and God has clearly been at work in him ever since. After a 25-year career as a broadcast journalist, Benjamin commenced a part-time pastoral assistant role with his church, Port Macquarie Presbyterian, while also undertaking part-time theological study with Christ College. He is in his final year of study and will be ordained in 2025, God-willing.
In Benjamin’s personal life, he and his wife are devoted to training their children in the gospel. For their family, that intentionality has involved both time in the Word as well as working through the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

“As parents, we have made it our aim to ensure our kids hear God’s Word every day, a practice that began when they were in the womb,” Benjamin explains. “Though they’re now in high school, we still gather around God’s Word each evening, except on the nights they have church or youth group. In Acts 2:39 we see that God’s promises are for us, and for our children, all who the Lord will call. It’s not the only verse that reminds us of the importance of sharing God’s promises with our family, either.”
Part of Benjamin’s desire to step up and train his children is so that his kids can see the application of gospel messages not just on a Sunday, but in every part of their lives. That’s why he found the Family Discipleship course so beneficial.
Together with a group of parents from their church, Benjamin and his wife gathered over the course of five Sunday afternoons to work through the content. They watched the videos, took part in discussion sections, and prayed for each other – both at the time and separately, through the week. Benjamin really appreciated the input.
“Murray Smith is a very engaging speaker, isn’t he?” Benjamin reflects. “He points to both the Bible and to his experience in demonstrating the importance of family discipleship. He often encourages parents to just make a start. Even a little bit of time dedicated to discipling our children can be used by the Lord. Discipleship doesn’t require a formal lesson plan – even though that can be helpful – it can be quite an informal time, imparting Bible knowledge to our children, reading, chatting and praying through the events of the day, and trying to put them in a gospel context.”
Benjamin shares that he feels deeply grateful for the way the Presbyterian Church supports youth through PYNSW, as well as through our local youth groups, SRE teaching, kids programs at church, and in equipping parents to love their kids and share God’s Word with them.
He says, “I encourage families and churches to make use of the resources that PYNSW provides for family development. It’s important that we get our theology straight before times get tough, and seeing as we can never be quite sure when that will be, it’s crucial to start early.”
It is such a joy to see parents like Benjamin confident in discipling their children, and ministry leaders confident in partnering with parents in their important discipleship work. We want to continue doing these things and more! We want to be financially sustainable and viable as a ministry to keep being creative in partnering with parents ourselves, and helping our local churches to do the same.
Will you help us to continue to create spaces, resources, and opportunities to partner with parents?