The Critical Value Of Christian Community

If you read my previous post about my Grandpa Henry, you will note that I grew up in a community of faith. I was surrounded daily by family and friends who embraced Jesus as Lord and Savior. That entire atmosphere nurtured and strengthened my childhood faith. Together with John Westerhoff, I ask again, Will our children also have faith in Jesus? Westerhoff reflected upon the history of the Christian church as he wrote that . . .

". . . the church teaches most significantly through nurture in a worshiping, witnessing community of faith, and they clearly explained that explicit instruction in the church schools was only a small part of Christian education." 

I did not attend a Sunday School. Our small rural congregation did not have one. What they had instead was a one room parochial school. My teacher through most of my years of elementary education was Elmer Hinze. He was the sole teacher of about two dozen children of all grades. All children of the congregation were expected to attend. Tuition was free for members. That school was very influential in the development of my faith. We studied the Bible stories and integrated the Christian point of view into every subject.

However, as important as that education model was (and still is in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod), church schools are but "a small part of Christian education." My daily life with my parents, my grandparents, my extended family, our weekly worship life, the conversations we shared, the family and church picnics, even the conversation between the farmers of the area—all these things were the major part of the nurturing of my faith.

But things have changed. Rural community life is unknown for the vast majority of us. We Americans are an urban culture. And that urban culture does not provide a community that can be counted on to pass on the values and worldview that we Christians share. Every possible aberration and iteration of opposing views comes at us in our communities, our schools and workplaces and the never-ending harangue of the media. Music, movies, TV and books foster an approval of drugs, sex, revenge, hate, lust, greed and self-centered pleasure. The values of the worldly community around us oppose our own. They are like the storms Jesus predicted would come.

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock." - Mat 7:24-27 ESV

So many families living in this world are without roots to protect them from these spiritual storms. Cut off from an extended family of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins they have no one to support and encourage them through mutual conversations and prayers based upon God's Word. They do not have what I had as a child. My grandson, for example, is just starting a new job with a major oil company. He fully anticipates that in a couple years he will be sent overseas to any number of possible assignments, from Japan to Scotland, from Africa to Australia. He and his wife are excited about the adventure, but I want them to realize that in those places they will be cut off from their roots, except for an occasional video or phone call home. And their little son will have to relate to a culture totally foreign to his experience.

And what about a community of faith? Chances are that they will have great difficulty finding any Christian community in, say, Japan where we Christians make up but a few percentage points of the population. How will they nourish faith in their son? Surely it cannot be done without community.


This is a question all parents must ask, even if they never work overseas. Faith is always expressed, transformed and made meaningful by people living, loving and sharing together in a community of faith. We Christians must be a part of such a community of faith if we expect our children to grow up sharing that faith. Community remains part of the answer to the question I am raising. This is a clearly taught in the Bible.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. - Rom 12:4-21 ESV

We face a situation similar to that of first century Christians. We live in a post-Christian era, a world in which the voices of many faiths and world views constantly vie for attention. In this world we parents who are concerned about the faith of our children must give great attention to developing our communal Christian lives. By no means can we depend upon an hour of Sunday School and a few bedtime prayers to nurture strong faith in our kids.

More about this next time.

Healing And Growth In Our Families

We're continuing our discussion of the third purpose of marriage: restraint of sin. 


Have you ever asked a newly married couple if they plan to have children and they answer, "No! We have too many other things to do with our lives?" It happens, doesn't it? Couples reject the very thought of having kids in order to pursue their own self-centered plans.


But then the baby comes anyway, even at the most inconvenient time. And everything changes. I mean everything. This little person demands to be fed, have his diaper changed, put to bed, taught to walk, and on and on. The demands never end. And that is when marriage becomes a most wonderful place of learning, maturity and growth. In the family the children aren't the only ones to mature and grow up. Parents also learn to grow up and take on ever increasing responsibilities.


Of course we all know it doesn't always work that way. Our sinful nature does not disappear just because we have children. It asserts itself in endless ways. And here I'm talking to parents. Sadly some parents beat and whip their children into submission, ignore, neglect, shame, despise or force them into activities beyond their native abilities. They use their children to win their own glory, sexually abuse them, emotionally harass them and more—the list goes on and on.


Unless all in a family learn to control their self-interests—and the all includes both parents—everyone is hurt. How often have I seen that even in Christian homes, to say nothing about those families in which Christ is not present. This is why the larger Christian family, the church, emphasizes the importance of hearing God's Word, renewing our Baptism and eating and drinking at the Lord's Table week by week. These are the means by which our Lord continues the process that began with our rebirth, that moment when His Spirit gave us new life. When Jesus is present in our families to nourish our souls, guide our decisions, forgive our sins and heal our losses, we all grow together. That's a process that continues throughout our lives. It is a process that eventually includes all members of the extended family, grandparents, grandchildren, cousins, uncles, aunts and beyond. 


In this connection we must also speak about suffering, pain, separation and death. Strangely, even paradoxically, these times can even become opportunities to learn and grow. A soldier-husband is called to duty in a foreign country. Mom is left behind to raise and care for the children all by herself. A wife is suddenly afflicted with a mysterious disease that leaves her crippled and Dad is forced to work and make arrangements to care for Mom and the kids. Or even worse. Mom dies and Dad is now a single parent with three small children to raise. All this falls under the command of Jesus to take up our crosses and follow Him. And in those times He does not forsake us, but provides also His Spirit to strengthen and guide. Here is His promise: 

God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Cor. 10:13). 

Those of us who have been so tested look back upon and bear witness to the truth of His Word. He is ever with us as He promises and He does provide a way out of what at times seems to be impossible situations.


To sum up this part of our discussion, the third purpose of marriage is not merely to restrain and control sin. It is much more than that. It is an opportunity for both husband and wife to learn the meaning of Christ's love, that love He displayed when He gave Himself up for us all as a personal sacrifice on the cross (Ephesians 5:1-2). Sin in marriage is not only curbed and controlled, it is most especially forgiven in the name of Christ. Thus its destructive power is removed day by day. It loses the strength to tear apart our families. Christian couples and their families learn that this controlling principle of our new life in Christ works genuine healing in our marriages and families. We learn from the living Christ to be kind and how to forgive one another, even as God in Christ daily and richly forgives us (Ephesians 4:32).