“I’m so glad to be a part of the family of God.” That was a popular chorus thirty years ago when our kids were growing up and we were trying to decide on a church to attend. The notion of church as family is preached from many pulpits, but how many listeners (or preachers) actually believe it? Church attendance drops every year, “organized religion” takes more hits than ducks in an arcade. Even professing Christians ditch the family terminology as soon as something they don’t like happens in the church they’re currently attending. As for “membership”–what’s that? Many churches don’t even have membership status.
But church as family is one of the plainest principles taught in the Bible. It’s not just a metaphor–it’s a fact. Jesus even said that there’s no marriage in heaven, and presumably no parent-child relationships. Christ will be our husband, and God (the Father) our Father. We don’t know exactly what this will look like, but we can be sure that the only family that will last into eternity is the church. Maybe we should start taking it more seriously.
For a dowloadable .pdf of this week’s Bible challenge, including scripture references, thought questions, and family activities, click below:
(This is a continuation of a series of posts about the “whole story” of the Bible. I plan to run one every week, on Tuesdays, with a printable PDF. The printable includes a brief 2-3 paragraph introduction, Bible passages to read, a key verse, 5-7 thought/discussion questions, and 2-3 activities for the kids. Here’s the Overview of the entire Bible series.)
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