We are walking through several benefits to the household approach to discipleship listed by Eric Wallace in his book “Uniting Church and Home.” My goal in these blog posts is to help us consider the urgent need for families to live out the biblical mandate of home discipleship.
Benefit 11: A household approach better prepares people for marriage. A household approach to ministry enables young people to evaluate the characteristics of a potential marriage partner in the confines of safe, real-life relationships. You best see the true character of a person in how they act in their home environment. You can see how a person practically lives out their faith in the way they interact with their family. My wife Katie and I experienced this growing up. We met when we were fourteen years old and saw first-hand how each of our families interacted with each other and what their priorities were. We knew the obstacles we were facing as we walked toward marriage and prayed together for the Lord to see us through them. He has blessed us with fifteen wonderful years of marriage and five beautiful children.
Psalm 78:1-7 gives a beautiful picture of the results of home discipleship:
“Give ear, O my people, to my law; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children; 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 not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments”
Amen
