Where the family and the church are concerned, to which error are you more prone?

Both the Church (consisting of local churches) and the family are central aspects of God’s created order.

The Church (again I’ll say meeting in local churches) is God’s plan for this age.  We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood (Peter 2:11-12).  Indeed, the local church is as much God’s plan for this age, as the Ark was for Noah’s (Ephesians 3:10).  Recall that Jesus taught that a commitment to Him takes precedence over even immediate family (Luke 14:26).

At the same time, the family is part of God’s created order and continues to be singularly important.  Ephesians 5:22-6:4!

It is, perhaps, because the Church and the family are both central to God’s purposes, that we easily confuse one with the other.  Indeed, all of us are probably prone to one of the two below mistakes.  In which direction do you lean?

The Error

Diagnostic Questions

Expecting your local church to do the job of the family

Is the Bible read aloud in your home? (Deut 6:4-9)

Do you pray aloud?

Do you discuss the Gospel?

Is the father seen as the spiritual leader in your home?

Expecting the family to do the job of the local church

Are you a member of a local church?

How often in the last 2-3 months have you invited other families from your local church into your home or been in theirs?

Are church events such as a baptism service a priority?

Does the idea of being under the authority of pastors/elders encourage you, or does it bug you?

Either of these errors, misunderstands God’s plan for our lives and can result in tragic consequences (Galatians 6:7-8).

See also this post on the local church, as well as this one.

Published by Chris

7 thoughts on “Where the family and the church are concerned, to which error are you more prone?”

  1. Thanks so much for this little teaching. I will send this to some of the leaders at my church. I appreciate the scripure references but also the “Diagnostic Questions.” They were very helpful in getting me to think about this practically. I hope you post more like this! : )

  2. These are the kinds of things the adult Sunday School class at the Red Brick Church is discussing right now in our series guided by Mark Dever’s book about healthy churches. We’re having great fellowship and study wrestling with these issues. I’d recommend the group to fellow “bricks” and the book to fellow blog readers. I think Chris has mentioned it in the past.

  3. “Does the idea of being under the authority of pastors/elders encourage you, or does it bug you?” Honestly, this is difficult.

  4. Hi Jeremy,
    This is good food for thought! I was doing good with your diagnostics until I got to “How often in the last 2-3 months….?” question. I think I could use some work there.
    Always appreciate what you have to post!
    Leslie

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  6. Great work! I was just browsing through the internet and I found this. I just have a question about the church and the family. What if a father/husband spends more time in church than with his family, making the excuse that he has some “ministry” to attend to in church (such ministry does not involve his family) and continues to do so at the expense of making his “family time” suffer? Is this still acceptable? How can a father boast of serving God when he cannot even be a good father/husband to his family?

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