Reaching Culture With The Family

The undeniably critical mission of the church is to transform people's lives and culture through the message of Christ. How do we see the world won to a relationship with Christ? Do we start in the marketplace? How about the office? Maybe you think that the school or the university is the place we transform peoples lives and ultimately our culture. How about the media and the World Wide Web phenomenon? Certainly the internet is the fastest way to reach society. Do we implement city-wide outreaches?  What about church evangelism and outreach programs?  

Let me offer a better option than all of these. The family. 

There are 5 reasons the family is the medium and the organization to which we must place most of our focus in order to see souls brought into a relationship with God:

• Our families are the best contextual way to speak the language of the communities they live in
• Our families are at the core of our community life
• The presence of the family is the one system that exists in each community
• When a family resides in a community they have immediate access because of the adaptation of that family into the neighborhood
• Missiology is the study of intention and mission in a certain place. What better way to be missional than to use families to reach families?
• Adults and Children build relationships and cross the multi-generational divide
• The only cost to this kind of evangelism is the the cost of discipleship and commitment

At the center of humankind is sin and separation from God/Creator. And because of this we search for a myriad of ways to atone for our sin. However, atonement cannot be found outside of the work of Christ. And healthy Christian families will bring the transformation needed at the core of our culture and in the lives of people. 

So, how do we build healthy Christian homes? What makes a family a liability and what makes a family a credibility?

Four areas of influence that can impact the success or the failure of our families in ministry:

When the spouse relationship is healthy, the family follows
Children and sibling relationships can bring a huge impact to a neighborhood
The family dinner and meals is a great place to begin spiritual formation
Family recreation and activities promote joy in the community