“Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children, That they may set their hope in God, And nor forget the works of God, But keep His commandments.” – Psalm 78:4b, 6-7 NKJV
Throughout biblical and church history up until the turn of the twentieth century, “a theology of family” was frequently preached and regularly taught whereas this terminology is rarely used anymore in the modern era (Rienow, 2013, pp. 147, 195). Foundational to this theology is the biblical reality, Rienow (2013) explains, that 1. God created families to be robust centers of intentional discipleship, 2. The purpose of parenting and grand parenting is to impress on the hearts of their progeny a love for God and His Word, and 3. God created the family as a dynamic engine central to world evangelization through the transforming power of multi-generational faithfulness (p. 147). At the heart of this deliberate transmission of truth to the next generation is training young hearts and minds in the fear of God which is to be disciplined to live with reverence for an order that transcends immediate experience or comprehension (Stinson, 2011, p. 17).
In other words, it is disciplined guidance that calls young people to seek the unseen ways of God’s mighty hand at work as demonstrated by lives of growing contentment, sanctification, and gospel-centeredness (Stinson, 2011, p. 17). This spirit is the precedent of Holy Scripture and was shared by the early church fathers, revived during the Reformation era, championed by the Puritans, and reclaimed once again in recent decades after a degeneration of family ministry subsequent to the Industrial Revolution along with unprecedented cultural upheaval in the twentieth century. The theoretical basis of the centrality of the family to the missio Dei is therefore a framework built upon resolute biblical-theological conviction and flows out of a historical analysis of perspectives on family ministry from the early church to contemporary family ministry models in the modern era.
Christian Family Ministry Models Throughout History
There is manifold value to a knowledge of church history in relation to understanding Christian family ministry models. Whereas Holy Scripture is the first and final authority for all matters of faith and practice as the divinely inspired Word of God that continually and authoritatively forms and reforms the church, other historical documents and traditions merely inform the church (Stinson, 2011, p. 99). These secondary sources are not authoritative for the church but do provide important insights from Christian history into the application of biblical truth especially regarding family life (Stinson, 2011, p. 99). At the heart of this historical analysis of Christian family ministry models are the perspectives derived from 1. Early Church Fathers, 2. Middle Ages, 3. Protestant Reformation, 4. Puritan Era, and the aftermath of the 5. Industrial Revolution.
Family ministry perspectives in the early church. The study of patristics, reveals that the post-apostolic era was characterized by a consistent emphasis that connected family life to the advance of the gospel. For example, the Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas provide summaries of Christian practices that date to the first and second centuries AD. Therein is found the imperative to parents which says that “you shall not remove your hand from your son or your daughter. You shall train them in the fear of God from their youth up” (Didache and Barnabas as cited in Stinson, 2011, p. 16). Nineteenth century scholar of early church history, Lyman Coleman, recounts how morning and evening times of family worship consisting of a reading from the Old Testament portion of Holy Scripture, singing of a hymn, and intercessory prayers of thanksgiving and supplication to God were a consistent practice in the decades immediately following the New Testament times (Coleman as cited in Whitney, 2016, pp. 28-29).
Near the end of the first century, Clement of Rome was a leading pastor who declared, “Let our children receive the instruction that is in Christ. Let them learn…how the fear of God is good and great and saves all those who live in this fear in holiness with a pure mind” (Clement as cited in Stinson, 2011, p. 16). Polycarp of Smyrna was a second-century church leader who wrote a letter to Christians in Philippi that held husbands responsible to partner with their wives “to train their children in the fear of God” (Polycarp as cited in Anthony, 2011, p. 158). An apologist and theologian, Tertullian, was another second century leader whose comments about Christian marriage included the observation that couples pray, worship, fast, and sing together in order to encourage and strengthen one another to the rejoicing of Christ who presides over their home (Tertullian as cited Whitney, 2016, p. 29).
Chrysostom was a dynamic preacher, prolific author, and influential church father as the archbishop of Constantinople of the late 4th century who likened the child-training process of parenting to training them to be “athletes for Christ” (Chrysostom as cited in Jones, 2009, p. 20). Just as painters and sculptors pay meticulous attention to their works of art, Chrysostom explained that parents must “give all [their] leisure time to fashioning these wondrous statues of God” through careful inspection and eradication of what is unhelpful along with increasing the good qualities (Chrysostom as cited in Jones, 2009, p. 20). To do otherwise would surely incite displeasure from God just as it is written in the Shepherd of Hermas from the mid-second-century regarding a divine messenger who announced to the protagonist that “the Lord is angry” with him due to his negligence in the spiritual formation of his children (Shepherd as cited in Jones, 2009, p. 22).
Further patristic insight into family ministry is provided by Chrysostom who taught fathers to provide spiritual nourishment during at-home meal-times especially following the worship service at their local church thus leading their homes toward God’s intention that they become like a small church just as the church was created by God to be like a family (Chrysostom as cited in Rienow, 2013, p. 196). In doing so, Chrysostom strongly addressed the issue of “men’s ministry” by emphasizing that fathers would be alleviating the excessive toil of the pastoral workload in the local church (Chrysostom as cited in Rienow, 2013, p. 196). Similarly, Chrysostom cast a beautiful multi-generational vision for the ministry of mothers reminiscent of the Psalmist’s and Pauline exhortation (Ps 78:6; Titus 2:3-5) (Chrysostom as cited in Rienow, 2013, pp. 196-197). Throughout the post-apostolic era, family ministry was clearly a definitive priority in the early church as evidenced by the testimony of history.
To be continued…Soli Deo Gloria!
References
Anthony, M. & Anthony, M., eds. (2011) A theology for family ministries. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic.
Rienow, R. (2013) Limited church: unlimited kingdom – uniting church and family in the great commission. Nashville, TN: Randall House Publications.
Stinson, R. & Jones, T. P., eds. (2016) Trained in the fear of God: family ministry in theological, historical, and practical perspective. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.
Whitney, D. S. (2019) Family worship: in the Bible, in history, and in your home. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
