Discussion-Thread Reply Directions
Reply 1: Discover a classmate’s thread that is closest to yours in overall meaning. Explain why it is close to your viewpoint.
Reply 2: Discover a thread that is farthest from your position. What underlying assumptions are the same, even though your conclusions differ?
Each reply must be at least 200 words each and integrate your own experience plus the textbook and other applicable references.
(Threads to reply)
1. God gave us the gift of family as a means to model the relationship of God the father with us as His children, and to minister to others in the context of family relations. While it is true that God calls us to serve Him and forsake all others, as Jesus said “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24, NASB) It is also true that God demands that we love and care for our families as part of our service to Him. There are several commandments in the Bible regarding family, from one of the ten commandments which says “Honor your father and your mother.” (Exodus 20:12, NASB) to the writer of Proverbs saying to “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6, NASB) and Paul’s exhortation to parents “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4, NASB). There must be a balance between serving God in outward focused ministry and serving God in family focused ministry so that one is not excluded for the sake of the other.
William Carey and Adoniram Judson serve as two examples of ministry leaders with families, but each man took a different approach to family life as it related to their ministry. William Carey felt the calling of God to evangelize the Indian subcontinent, but focused on his linguistic studies and his missionary work to the exclusion of caring for his wife and children’s needs (Petersen, 1997). Judson on the other hand took into account the demands of missionary work on his wife and children and took measures to care for their needs when they arose (Duesing, 2012). Even in the case of Judson, God did not always spare him or his family from illness, sorrow, or even death, but Judson and his wives were all committed to the cause for which they labored, and they labored together, and their legacy was unlike Carey’s in that their surviving children continued to serve God throughout their own lives.
Certainly, we must sacrifice our own desires for the service of God, but in doing so we cannot neglect the familial responsibilities He has given us. William Carey should serve as a cautionary example of what Billy Sunday would call ‘gaining the world and losing his family’. Serving God in missions, evangelism, or other ministry should not be an undertaking we pursue to the exclusion of living our lives to Him in all other areas, particularly in ministry to our families.
By Paul Mellon: (Christie, I would like this to be the reply furthest from my own point)