family values


The church is a gospel centered community on mission. How should this affect our family?

As a Christian, you have not moved on from the gospel to a place where now all you need is a few marriage or parenting tips. The biggest problem in your marriage is your sin. The gospel frees you to own up to your sin and to show grace to your partner because of the grace you have been shown by God. The goal of parenting is not to produce well-behaved, law-abiding children, but to tell them about their sin and God’s grace. If our parenting is all about performance-related rewards then that will inevitably reflect on their (mis)understanding of the gospel. The family is not the most important thing in your life, your family does not give your life meaning or ultimate satisfaction. Family is not your Saviour, Jesus is.

A marriage itself is a community, reflecting the unity in the trinity, reflecting the relationship between Christ and the church. But the married couple also needs to be in community with other couples and singles, rather than being isolated, struggling through issues on their own. Children, like adults, need to be part of the church community, interacting with Christians of different ages. They need to see the lives of older Christians other than just their parents.

The family’s schedule should be evaluated in order to be on mission, looking at the situations God has put them in and what God has for them to do there, not just going from activity to activity for self-fulfillment.