The Bible emphasizes the significance of families, as 1 Timothy 3:4-5 claims, "He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?)" It is recorded in the New Testament that the early church expanded in homes, like how worship, baptism and communion services were held in houses. Several teachings from Paul and Peter even require believers to fulfill their responsibility as family members.
However, the reality is that the family is often placed at the last place among our "important events", and some preachers even frequently ignore their families due to their ministries, resulting in progressive ministries yet a drastic decline in family relations.
Rev. Jacob from Hangzhou believes that preachers should put more stress on families because their ministries will be more powerful as soon as their families become supportive and become havens. What's more, caring for families gives glory to God and edifies people.
The pastor mentions that God doesn't want us to build a large church where believers worship and praise. Instead, he desires his disciples to live a holy and obedient life that centers around God's word. "So we need to understand the will of the Heavenly Father... The whole Bible doesn't claim that you have to do many things. It says, "to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)"
"God hopes that we are like in Eden --- a man and a woman. There should be children and families. So why does the entire Bible tell families are significant? Because the church is also God's family."
God values families. But when did believers start to gradually blur the importance of "family" in their faith? He analyzed, "Families were cut off slowly owing to the influence of Greek culture." The church was persecuted for 200 years after 80 AD, while it started to be open at the time of Constantine. But after its openness, the church's familial nature was removed little by little and it developed into a church building, forming a pattern of public worship and praise. "The church became more educated, institutional and political. It is also starting to belong to an institution or a unit. It was clearly planned."
The churches were in homes in the Apostolic Age and many apostles had their own families. Christians worshiped in family units. However, large churches were constructed everywhere and were affected by the Greek culture and large-scale worship and meetings were held in these churches. "It isolated the most intimate relationships between people." Rev. Jacob said, "This is called defamilization. The culture passes on from one generation to another and has an influence for so many years. It shatters the family's cultural pattern that is steady, domestic and petty bourgeoisie."
The structural patterns in some churches copy the structures built under the Greek culture, but those structures are defamilized, he adds.
"In times to come, we should return to families in the first place. " China will face an outburst in the 21st century and this will mark the beginning of being back to the family, claims Rev. Jacob."So some good figures rise up in this era, who restore the importance of families and start to stress family culture. But it doesn't mean that I must accept all western things."
Translated by Karen Luo
