David Fairchild shares some great thoughts about the mission of the church that he gleaned from Ed Clowney. Here’s a section of his thoughts to get you interested:
“What is true of a congregation is true also of a Christian home. If a family fails to seek to gather friends and neighbours to Christ in hospitality and quiet witness, the children of the family will be scattered. We fail to bring up children in the nurture of the Lord if we fail to in to involve them in our efforts to gather others to their Saviour.”
Please can you explain what he means by scattered? (I couldn’t get access to the link for whatever reason).
He uses it in this sense:
“Jesus came to gather, and to call gatherers, disciples who would gather with him, seeking the poor and helpless from city streets and country roads. Jesus said, ‘He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters’ (Mt. 12:30; Lk. 11:23). Mission is not an optional activity for Christ’s disciples. If they are not gatherers, they are scatterers.”
Thanks. Thought so. Great point. And that would fit in with what Paul says in 1 Tim.3 about the fact that if a man can’t lead his home properly then how could he be expected to lead the church well? We could say then that the children of our church leaders will be reflective of our Christian communities- a scary reality here in SA, isn’t it?