Your Greatest Ministry is at Home

I was reading a blog today by Dale Hudson who has spent 22 years in ministry. He listed 10 leadership tips for leaders, specifically for leaders in children's ministry. One of the tips that caught my eye was the statement, "Your greatest ministry is at home." The reason I love this tip so much is because it is true for all people in ministry, not just leaders. Now some may be thinking, "well I'm not in ministry", but guess what.... if you are a Christian you ARE in ministry. We are told to make disciples and share the good news of the grace and redemption we ourselves received through our Lord Jesus Christ. This statement is saying that God has trusted us with a family, and that family is our greatest ministry. Here are some reasons why.

1. We know them! We typically know them best because we spend the most time with them! Why does that matter? Because we already have an unconditional love for them (agape), like the unconditional love God has for us! If we are not ministering to the people we love unconditionally, how are we going to minster to people we love brotherly? (philía)
2. The family unit is God's design. God has put each member of your family together purposefully, and there  is a reason that God created us in the first place. If we look back to Genesis we can see it has always been about community. We were told to multiply and fill the earth (Gen 1:28), even after the fall and the flood (Gen 9:1). It is no wonder our greatest ministry is at home, it is God's plan for families to be discipleship groups, coming together in the home and being discipled so that the individual members can disciple others.
3. We cannot disciple others if we do not disciple our families. I often quote Deuteronomy 6:5-7, which explains our responsibilities as parents. Verse 5 is the verse that Jesus quoted when asked what is the greatest commandment. What follows is the instructions on what to do with the greatest commandment, which is to impress (teach) them on your children. If we are willing to do this for others but not to those in our families then we are forgetting our primary responsibility.

So whats next? What does this look like? I can tell you that it is not necessary to come up with a strict and rigid plan to have a formal bible study every night, week, etc. The Deuteronomy passage is telling us that we just need to spend time with our families. That our conversations show and demonstrate our faith, and we share what God has done in our lives, or what they learned at church this past weekend, or what they may learn the coming up weekend, and more. The key is for them to see you're not a robot or burnt out when you are home. Make sure your family doesn't get the leftovers, because your day was filled with activity with other people. Take your day off and take vacation time, who you are is more important that what you do. God wants us to take care of our families, which is why our greatest ministry is at the home.