It Starts at Home by Kurt Bruner and Steve Stroope makes the compelling case for spiritual formation to begin at home, but this excerpt helps to clarify that both the home AND the church are needed in our family’s spiritual development. Read and ponder . . .
Spiritual formation begins at home, but it does not end there. The home cannot be the church any more than the church can be the home. Christianity is a communal faith to be experienced through corporate worship, under pastoral leadership and amid what many call “doing life” with other believers. God never intended a family’s faith to occur apart from local church engagement. But neither did He design the church to replace the home. Left to do the entire job by itself, a church can only impart enough of the faith to inoculate kids against taking it seriously. Church and home, like a watering can and the soil in a flowerpot, are both essential to the job.
To build on the imagery, I would just suggest that what is needed is the soil of the home, the water of the church, and the sun of the Holy Spirit! Together, they are a powerful combination for creating fruitful and bountiful plantings of the Lord!
Spiritual formation begins at home, but it does not end there. The home cannot be the church any more than the church can be the home. Christianity is a communal faith to be experienced through corporate worship, under pastoral leadership and amid what many call “doing life” with other believers. God never intended a family’s faith to occur apart from local church engagement. But neither did He design the church to replace the home. Left to do the entire job by itself, a church can only impart enough of the faith to inoculate kids against taking it seriously. Church and home, like a watering can and the soil in a flowerpot, are both essential to the job.
To build on the imagery, I would just suggest that what is needed is the soil of the home, the water of the church, and the sun of the Holy Spirit! Together, they are a powerful combination for creating fruitful and bountiful plantings of the Lord!
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