Monday, March 19, 2012

Family as calling


At the consultation in February one of the issues that lots of people wanted to talk about was making decisions about work, family and ministry. In our society, and even more in conservative churches, husbands assume they have to work full-time and wives and mothers feel they have to make a decision about how much work to do.

One way of rethinking that approach is for husbands and wives to recognise family life as a calling from God. This book seems to do that, according to an interview with the authors (Gene Edward Veith Jr. and Mary J. Moerbe). I haven't read the book yet, but it sound worth looking at. The message for parents and children is "Love and serve your family, not because of who is in your family, but because God is in your family".

I'd guess that sometimes means earning money to keep your family (1Tim. 5:8 ). But it also means having time for them, and showing the love of having time for relationships, worship, evangelism and generosity. If all the family view family life and roles as God's calling, then the work/life balance might start to fall into place.

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