Family: Our First Ministry

One of the saddest statements I ever heard as a youth pastor was when a young man in the youth group said the following to me: "I know you all think my dad (a deacon in the church) is a really good guy and really spiritual, but you guys don't know what he is really like!"

This one statement broke my heart. I can name countless children of pastors and ministry leaders that have left the church and want nothing to do with God, many of whom are that way because dad spent a lot of time ministering to the church, but missed his family.


1 Timothy 3:4-5 (NLT)
[Elders] He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him.
⁵ For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?

Our first area of responsibility is our families. If I am teaching all of the world about Christ yet miss my kids and my wife, I have missed my target. Family is sometimes the hardest to minister to, because they see us at our best and our worst, but we still need to do it.

There are nights where I just want to crawl in to bed and go to sleep, and sadly sometimes I do. But we are trying to develop a habit with our family of reading scripture, memorizing scripture and praying before bed. How about you, do you pray with your family, do you read scripture together, what keeps you from doing this?

I pray that my children will never say of me, what I have heard many children say of their parents. I pray that I am same at home, on the road, and at church.

Does your family know they are your first priority in ministry?

Pastor Chris

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