One of the great failings of the modern church is allowing men to abdicate their God-given responsibility to be the spiritual leader of their homes. God created men to lead; and specifically, to lead their families to God. It has never been God’s plan that the church assume this role in the family.

For the church to fulfill its mission, it will need men that have stepped up to the high calling of spiritual leadership in their homes. The apostle Paul said that a man that cannot ‘rule’ his home should not be used of leadership within the church.

Therefore, the church should have a strong emphasis on the discipleship of men to help them fulfill their God-given responsibility in their homes. This will be accomplished through discipleship, fellowship, and accountability.

This, in no way, means that we will not minister to the other members of the family. We believe that by equipping men to fulfill their role in the family, they will assist us in ministering to the rest of their family. We also believe that if we do not do this, that our efforts to reach the family as a whole will be greatly diminished.

The family is a critical part of God’s plan to redeem the world back to Himself. The erosion of the family is having a terrible impact upon our culture. Much of the pain and suffering we see in our society can be traced back to the breakdown of the family.

God is a God of order. Everything He created reflects something of His Person or nature. This is especially true in the family. When arranged and operating according to God’s perfect design the family reveals the beauty, love, and power of God.

It is one of the roles of the church to help families to repair the damage our modern society has done. Much of the carnage we see in families today comes from a lack of knowledge and understanding of God’s perfect plan for marriage and the family.

God created the family to operate as a congregation. Any group of people that gather together for a common purpose is a congregation. If you were to summarize what God’s purpose for the church is, you would say: God’s glory, transformation of people, and multiplication of the ministry of the gospel. These same purposes apply to people and to families. It is within families that these purposes have the potential for the greatest impact upon the world around us.

Everything that God created, He created for His glory. The family is no exception. It is one of our core values that we exist to help families glorify God in all their ways.

Mankind was created in the image of God. Sin corrupted that image. One of the roles of the family is to participate with the Holy Spirit in the transformation of our lives into the perfect image of Jesus. The church can assist with this but the greatest amount of this spiritual work will happen in the daily living out of our faith within our families.

One of the consequences of sin is separation from our perfect, loving Creator God. Jesus came to restore lost sinners back into communion and fellowship with God. One of the often overlooked purposes of the family is to assist the church in this work. Many believe that it is the purpose of the church to proclaim the gospel. When we remember that the church is people, we realize this mandate is for all believers.

Jesus spoke in the gospels of building His Church. Every local church is to participate in Christ’s work of multiplication. Each family, as a part of Christ’s Church and of a local church, is also expected to participate in some way in growing the Church. The local church, therefore, is to teach families how to do this and to provide opportunities to participate in the multiplication process.

The local church exists to be a place where the body of Christ gathers to worship and grow in the image of Jesus. It also exists to be a place where people can come to experience God’s love, grace, and mercy. Nowhere in the New Testament are we told that these activities are to be limited to a structure that we would commonly call a ‘church.’ In fact, we often see in the New Testament ‘the church’ meeting in people’s homes. In many parts of the world people meet in homes because it is illegal to practice their faith publicly.

Every household is a place where God should be worshipped and His love, grace, and mercy are given to all who enter. The church needs to help families elevate the importance of the home as a sanctuary and a place of worship of the Living God. The church needs to equip people, especially men, to put Christ at the center of everything that happens in the home.

Jesus said in Matthew 28, ‘Go and make disciples.’ This is referred to as the Great Commission. Many believe this is the primary purpose of the church. And while it is important to realize that missions and evangelism are vitally important to the church, it is important to keep in mind that churches are made up of families.

The Great Commission applies to families just as much as it does to the church. In Acts 1:8, Jesus told the disciples that they would be witnesses to Him throughout the whole world through the amazing power of the Holy Spirit. Often when we hear that we think of missionaries going out to the wild parts of the far places of the world.

We don’t need to travel to the other side of the world to find someone that needs to experience the love of Jesus. Most of us could look across the street and see people that are hurting and lost. For most people/families the mission-field that God has called them to is their own neighborhood. Some will be called to travel great distances to bring the Good News to those that need to hear it. Most will be called to simply share Christ right where you are.

The church exists to equip families to see their neighborhood as a mission-field and to prepare them to minister to their neighbors, co-workers, friends, or anyone else that God might put into their lives.

One of the ways that believers are described in the Bible is ‘the family of God.’ When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are adopted into God’s family and given an inheritance in heaven. This adoption means that all believers are related in Christ.

When the church gathers, there should be a sense of family. There should be a sense of feeling at home with the others that gather. This is often complicated by the diverse nature of the church, but it is this diversity that adds greatly to the beauty of the church. People come to church with all their imperfections, hurts, needs, and even sins. This is no different than any other family gathering. It is the goal of this church that people would feel welcome to come exactly the way they are, as long as they understand that God probably wants to deal with some of the things in their life that He doesn’t like.

Just as in the family, there are roles that God has set forth in His Word so that there is order is His church. The church must adhere to those roles if it wants to bring the most glory to the Lord. That being said, no one is more important than anyone else within the church; we are all equal in God’s eyes.

The church is a family of families. Just as a family functions best when all members of the family know and fulfill their roles, the church functions best when all families of the church are involved to bring God glory.

All of creation exists to bring God glory, including the church and the family. The church does not exist for the family, and the family does not exist for the church. Both exist for God; for His will and to accomplish His purposes. If we are faithful to make these Core Values real in our lives, families, and churches, we will give God the glory that is due Him, and we will know the blessings of His Presence, Pleasure, and Power.