CREATING COVENANT FAMILIES:
MOVING THE CENTER OF SPIRITUAL LIFE FROM CHURCH TO HOME
by Stephen Eastman
INTRODUCTION
A. Why Move the Center of Spiritual Life from Church to Home?
B. How Do You Move the Center of Spiritual Life form Church to Home?
I. OBJECTIVE: TO BRING FAMILY MEMBERS TO FAITH IN CHRIST
AND TO DISCIPLE THEM TO MATURITY
A. Reflect God’s Love
B. Encourage Spiritual Growth
II. METHOD: HOUSEHOLD ACTIVITIES, PLANNED AND UNPLANNED
1. Prayer
2. Scripture
B. Frequent Rituals
1. Meals
2. Shabbat
3. Christian Service Projects
C. Annual Celebrations
1. Christmas, Advent
2. Passover
3. Thanksgiving or Feast of Tabernacles
4. Family Worship Services
CREATING COVENANT FAMILIES: MOVING THE CENTER OF SPIRITUAL LIFE FROM CHURCH TO HOME
"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on
your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road,
when you lie down and when you get up." (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)
"If the congregation is the only context in which Scripture is dealt with, the artificial
dichotomy between faith and life is perpetuated and reinforced. Children quickly perceive
that the church is for ‘sacred’ activities and the home is for ‘secular’ ones." (Thompson
1989, 99)
INTRODUCTION: WHY? AND HOW?
A. Why Move the Center of Spiritual Life from Church to Home?
1. The home is still the most powerful influence on an individual. Its effects
will continue to direct spiritual formation years after childhood.
2. The most powerful learning events include modeling interaction and
participation in activity. The home is the ideal location for learning - where
lessons are more caught than taught.
3. If the church wishes to see spiritual formation in its people, it will need to
give much more support to families and in fact seek to move the center of
spiritual development from the church to the home.
a. "The communal church…was intended to be a gathering point…not a
substitute for the domestic church, the home." (Hays 1979,17)
b. Old Testament Scriptures teach us that the household is the basic unit
where spiritual truths are learned.
>daily activities (Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Joshua 24:15)
>weekly activities (celebrating Sabbaths Exodus 31:12-13) and
>annual activities (Passover and Feast of Tabernacles Leviticus 23:5-6, 39-43)
B. How Do You Move the Center of Spiritual Life from Church to Home?
1. By formal household activities that are marked by intentionality and
flexibility. Intentionality in order to achieve goals, and flexibility because
all families are not alike and expectations must adjust for ages of participants
and the make-up of the household.
a. Daily habits eg. prayer
b. Frequent rituals eg. family worship or devotions
c. Annual celebrations eg. Christmas
2. By informal household activities (also marked by intentionality and
flexibility).
a. Daily interaction and activity eg. Brother Lawrence
b. Scripture games, role play and activity
I. OBJECTIVE: TO BRING FAMILY MEMBERS TO FAITH IN CHRIST AND TO DISCIPLE THEM TO MATURITY
A. Reflect God’s Love
1. Love in covenant relationships (unconditionally)
2. Affirm each member’s uniqueness to God
3. Challenge, encourage, develop decision making abilities, empower
4. Forgive and reconcile
B. Encourage Spiritual Growth
1. Create an atmosphere where faith is celebrated
2. Create an atmosphere where members are free to express their natural spiritual
observations
II. METHOD: HOUSEHOLD ACTIVITIES, PLANNED AND UNPLANNED
A. Daily Habits
1. Prayer (in the context of family) This produces a bonding - especially as
members pray for one another
a. Modeled prayer
>Children will learn how to do it as they observe it at the table or during devotions.
>Children will learn its importance when they stumble in on a praying
parent who often sets aside personal time for prayer.
b. Scheduled prayer
>Morning
>Meals
>Mid-day
>Evening
c. Practice visualized prayer - powerful for children, a lost art for adults. e.g.
in prayer for the sick, see Jesus touch a sick one. See them well again.
Visualize the response of God to prayer.
d. Pray for sleeping children. (Foster 1978, 37-39) This is a real bonding
activity.
2. Scripture reading (in the home to make connections between "His story" and
"My story.")
a. Scripture reading must be modeled. Children will make a decision on the
importance of the Bible based on how often they see a parent reading it.
b. Make use of the many available Bible versions graded for the age and
interests of the reader from The Picture Bible (Hoth, 1978) to adult study
Bibles.
c. Spontaneous Bible games such as 20 Questions for famous (or not so
famous) Bible characters can be a frequent spontaneous dinner or travel
discussion.
d. Role play Bible stories
e. Involve grandparents in Bible activities
f. Watch for teachable moments to apply Scripture truth to life’s events of ups
and downs.
g. Children’s bed-time stalling tactics. Ruthlessly refuse to allow children to
put off going to bed. Accept no excuses - except the desire to talk about
spiritual things! They are amazingly open to discussing Scripture and
spiritual truths and their personal struggles just before bed - especially if it
buys them time!
B. Frequent Rituals
1. Meals are an excellent time to practice Deuteronomy 6:6-7.
2. The Jewish Shabbat meal with its rituals can be modified for an excellent
weekly Christian family tradition. (Berkowitz 1988)
3. Christian service should be experienced and taught in the family.
a. Tithing and giving by all family members
b. Lifestyle evangelism can be a family interest
c. Missions and service projects provide bonding and identity through common
goals
>Short term missions
>Food pantry projects
>Raising money for specific causes
C. Annual Celebrations
1. Christmas is crammed with wonderful symbols (if only parents would discuss
them) and opportunity for role-play and spiritual traditions. Advent provides
opportunity to expand the Spiritual aspects of family Christmas.
2. Passover (Leviticus 23:5-6) Christian families should take advantage of this
wonderful dinner tradition that teaches all ages the truths of redemption.
(Kasdan 1993, Zimmerman 1981)
3. Thanksgiving can be developed into a more spiritual event or The Feast of
Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:39-43) is a family oriented worship event that teaches
thanksgiving and many other Christian truths. (Kasdan 1993, Zimmerman 1981)
4. Family worship services can just kind of happen when the car won’t start on a
Sunday morning or when the family is on a vacation, camping miles from a
church. Divide up the disciplines of song leading, prayer, scripture reading and
preaching - everyone takes a part!
REFERENCE LIST
Berkowitz, Richard and Michelle Berkowitz. 1988. Shabbat: Celebrating the Sabbath the
Messianic Jewish Way. Baltimore: Lederer Publications.
Foster, Richard J. 1978. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. New
York: Harper and Row.
Hays, Edward. 1979. Prayers for the Domestic Church: A Handbook for Worship in the
Home. Easton, KS: Forrest of Peace Books.
Hoth, Iva and Andrae LeBlanc. 1978. The Picture Bible. Elgin, IL: David C. Cook
Publishing.
Kasdan, Barney. 1993. God’s Appointed Times: A Practical Guide for Understanding
and Celebrating the Biblical Holidays. Baltimore: Lederer Publications.
Thompson, Marjorie J. 1989. Family, the Forming Center: A Vision of the Role of
Family in Spiritual Formation. Nashville: Upper Room Books.
Zimmerman, Martha. 1981. Celebrate the Feasts of the Old Testament in Your Own
Home or Church. Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers.