Family Discipleship Ministries
The vision of the family discipleship ministry is for God-glorifying,
Christ-exalting homes and family lives where husbands and wives biblically and
joyfully live and serve one another and raise up a generation of children who
themselves become men and women committed to Christ-exalting lives and the
raising up of further generations for the glory of God and the preeminence of
Christ in all things.
The foundation of God-glorifying, Christ-exalting families, parenting and
child-rearing is the marriage relationship.
This is the most fundamental of human relationships and is designed by
God to display the glory of God in the relationship between Christ and his
church, for the joy of his people, and the raising up of generations of godly
children. Our goal is to encourage
and to equip husbands and wives in having strong, biblically-grounded marriages
that display the glory of God in the home, church, and community, unbreakable
bonds for the glory of Christ.
Parents have the awesome responsibility of training, disciplining, teaching and instructing their children in the Lord. Parents are to disciple their children, teaching them all that Christ has commanded. God’s vision for families is not just that parents would pass on the faith to their children, but that their children’s children and beyond, would lead God-glorifying, Christ-exalting lives. God’s vision for parents and families is multi-generational. Our responsibility as a church is to come alongside parents in this awesome responsibility, to provide instruction, encouragement, equipping and shepherding in partnership with parents, so that the next generation would set their hope in God.
Family worship is central to family discipleship. Family worship is central to family discipleship.
Besides attending worship services, perhaps no other spiritual discipline
is more fruitful (and more neglected) than family devotional time. Family worship is not merely a means
of child training or parenting or marriage strengthening; it is a family event
which the Lord blesses in a multitude of ways, which is why it is its own
section of our family discipleship ministry.
Long a well-known and generally practiced spiritual discipline since the
time of the Reformation, it has fallen on hard times in our modern era, although
it is making a comeback. Our goal is
to do everything we can to teach, encourage, and equip families in this
essential practice.
Caring for our youngest covenant children is our privilege and our joy. While
our goal as a church is for children to fully participate in the worship
services at the earliest age possible, we understand that this is not always
possible or practical at an early age.
Our nursery ministry provides care and age-appropriate instruction to
infants and children up to their fourth birthday.
As part of our covenantal responsibilities, adults and youth in the church
pray for, teach, and care for these precious gifts from God.
As parents, we would have no greater joy than to see our children walking with
the Lord. Our church’s vision for
families and children is that families would see
generations growing up, setting their
hope in God, and living God-glorifying, Christ-exalting lives. Our children’s ministries partner
with parents in this mission, providing age-appropriate teaching and fellowship
opportunities and integrating children into the overall life and ministry of the
church so that they would at an early age trust in and treasure Christ and grow
in faith and in grace as disciples of Christ, knowing God and more fully living
for his glory.
Adolescence is an exciting time and opportunity for youth and parents alike. Children begin to embrace the faith
as their own and to express it in their own unique way as independence grows. We believe that adolescence is not a
waiting period but a time for youth to glorify God and to serve him in their own
way, even as they grow in their faith.
The goal of our youth ministries is to provide teaching and instruction
for youth and their parents in the unique issues and opportunities they face,
fellowship and service opportunities for youth, integration into the overall
life and ministry of the church, and preparation for living independently as
disciples of Christ, all in partnership with parents.