Family – TGN

The Christian Home as a Means of God’s Grace

Francis Sowani — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 08:43:46 +0000

God loves families. Scriptures reveal this truth about God’s character from the very beginning. When God wanted to establish mankind, he started with a family of Adam and Eve (Genesis 1-2). Even after their disobedience and fall, when God began restoring humanity, he graciously worked through the family of Abraham. God promised Abraham that “in [him] all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3).

Recently, I have been reflecting on Christian families of our time. My reflections have mainly been about how God works through families today to continue his work of restoring humanity. My wife Joyce and I are blessed with a son and a daughter. My desire for our children to repent and believe the gospel has awakened these reflections.

In this article, I plan to share my reflections on how God uses a Christian home as a means of dispensing his grace. I hope to show that God uses a Christian home as a means of his grace (1) to a husband and wife, (2) to their children, (3) to other believers, and (4) to non-believers. Seeing this, I pray that this truth will strengthen your commitment to building and sustaining a sound Christian home.

What is a Christian Home?

What makes a Christian home? In short, it is the gospel. It is useful to describe a Christian home in its context of family and marriage. More precisely, in the context of the Christian family and biblical marriage.

Genesis 2:24 acknowledges that every biblical marriage establishes a new Christian family. Today, because of Ephesians 5:31-32, a biblical marriage necessarily involves an exclusive union between one man and one woman, both of whom are believers. The moment a husband is joined to his wife in a biblical marriage, the two establish a Christian family—right then and right there.

However, a Christian home is a physical and spiritual environment that a Christian family can build over time. While a Christian family is established automatically, a Christian home requires deliberate efforts to build and sustain. A sound Christian home is a safe and healthy dwelling place for both adults and children. Also, it is an atmosphere where the gospel flourishes, is lived out and can be encountered. Both the physical and spiritual dimensions are necessary for a sound Christian home.

On Means of God’s Grace

Christians usually understand that they ultimately do not deserve their salvation. We have received our salvation through faith as a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). This is what Scripture refers to as God’s grace.

Out of his wisdom, God has appointed some mundane things as means to communicate his grace to us. Question 88 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism names Scripture, sacraments (i.e., the Lord’s table and baptism), and prayer as means of grace:

“The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.”

It is critical to grasp that such means of grace do not communicate God’s grace to us by virtue of something inherent in them. Instead, they are effectual because God has appointed them and uses them. For instance, what makes baptism special is not the water used, but the authority that Christ has given to a local church in Matthew 28:18-20 and the faith of the baptised.

Christian Home is a Means of God’s Grace

I desire my son and daughter to grow up to become believers with “boring” testimonies.^[1] I mean testimonies without twists and turns, and devoid of extravagant sins. Testimonies that sound like:

I grew up in a Christian home. We had regular family devotions. Our parents were members of a local church where we heard the gospel every week. We were always around other Christian families. I do not remember an exact day but …

Nothing obviously dramatic. Only God’s grace at work—quietly, consistently, and surely.

Such testimonies bear witness to a means of grace that is easy to overlook: a Christian home. As noted before, a sound Christian home is the fruit of a faithful Christian family founded on a biblical marriage. Such a home is a blessing to the husband, wife, children if available, and other outsiders.

First and foremost, God uses a Christian home to graciously mature a husband and a wife in Christ. This happens as husband and wife build and maintain their home; their home, in turn, will be building and sustaining them too.

For example, a Christian home demands a husband who leads his family. As the husband leads his family, say in hospitality, God will use their hospitable home (like mealtimes shared with others) as a means to grow the husband and wife. I can personally testify to this.

Second, God uses a Christian home as a means of his grace to children. A Christian home is a haven for children. It protects children and provides a stable environment for their growth. More importantly, a Christian home consistently exposes children to the gospel.

In a Christian home, children witness their parents live out the gospel. This is remarkably important for children. Among other things, children need to witness their parents forgive one another, trust their God through life circumstances, and prioritise gathering with saints even when it is not convenient. God uses all these to form children and call them to Himself.

Thirdly, God uses a Christian home to bless other believers. Believers need to live in constant fellowship with other believers. Very little of this fellowship can happen when saints gather weekly on the Lord’s Day. Most of the fellowship should take place throughout the week, when saints are scattered. My favourite place of fellowship during the week is in Christian homes. There, saints can freely press into each other’s lives and apply the gospel appropriately—”Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15).

Finally, God uses a Christian home to reach out to non-believers with the gospel. The Bible expects and commands believers to be hospitable to strangers (Hebrews 13:2). Like children, a Christian home provides non-believers with an opportunity to witness the gospel being lived out.

What All This Means for You and Me

Seeing a Christian home as a means of grace is a huge first step. It orients our hearts better toward viewing our homes biblically. It shapes our attitude and the level of effort we are willing to invest in building one. I would encourage you, saint, to reflect on the importance of a sound Christian home and commit to investing your time and effort in improving yours—by God’s grace.

For the most part, building a sound Christian home involves a husband and wife striving to be faithful to what Scripture requires of believers and a married couple. I hope that recognising how God uses a Christian home to bless a Christian family, and others, will motivate you to honour, cherish, and work to build a Christian home. This is one of those areas that always has room for growth.

Notes

^[1] Now, I should highlight that calling any testimony “boring” is simply for a lack of a better word. All testimonies bear witness to the extraordinary work of God’s grace over the sinner.

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The Family Album

Michael Franco Smit — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 06:00:00 +0000

My childhood home was full of treasures. I would search through the boxes and collections of magazines. Until one day I discovered a container that seemed to be very precious. Looking inside I found old photos, pictures of people I had never seen before. Every now and then I would see a younger version of my dad or some grizzly looking stranger. Even I made an appearance among these photos. It became clear that these were photos of my family members. Some being very familiar and others not so much.

The moment you became a Christian you were grafted into a family that reaches back 2000 years. Your adoption (Romans 8:15) means, among other things, that you have brothers and sisters who lived during the Roman Empire. This should be very exciting news if you have never thought of it before. We, who are in Christ today, are standing on the shoulders of those who have followed Jesus and have eagerly anticipated his return.

Putting The Pieces Together

It is highly likely that you have been told at some point that just after the Book of Acts the church fell off the face of the earth and has now finally been rediscovered. In fact, entire movements have been built on this premise, including Mormonism and most of what is going on in the charismatic movement. This has resulted in the underdeveloped appreciation of Jesus’ building project (Matthew 16:18) and a desire for some new revelation. Others might have dipped their toes into church history just enough to be confused or intimidated. Thus, it might be useful to have a brief overview of the timeline.

Church History, following on from the Acts of the Apostles, can be divided into four major eras, namely: the Early Church (AD 33 – 450), the Medieval Church (450 – 1450), the Reformation Era (1450 – 1700), and the Modern Church (1700 – present). There is definite overlap between these eras and oversimplification should be avoided, but I have found this outline helpful in grouping significant events together.

New and Old Treasures

Fellow saint, it is necessary to know that you and your local church are not the first generation to crack open the Bible. This fact should produce a profound humility in our hearts as we approach the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). The study of church history also reveals blind spots that we might have in our own day. By reflecting on the Christians of the past, we are served with a good dose of theological antibodies against heresy and bad teaching.

This is important because increasingly the need to come up with something new and novel has become fashionable within certain Christian circles. We must always understand that Christianity has been with us for thousands of years. Our Christian forefathers have been looking into exact same things we speak of in our day. Therefore, when we hear anything that claims to be new, we must verify it against the Bible first and foremost and also check if this has been the position of Bible-believing Christians throughout the ages.

One of my favorite meals is Cape hake and chips, the only thing is, one must be careful to remove the fish bones first. You don’t want them stuck in your throat. Sometimes studying church history can be like that: it’s an amazing dish, just be attentive. Remember, all teaching must be held captive to Scripture (John 17:17). With that said, by familiarizing yourself with church history you are opening up a real treasure that the Lord has given us. Like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old (Matthew 13:52).

Our African Heritage

Northern Africa is home to some of the greatest early Christian leaders. Allow me to introduce you to a handful of notable characters:

Tertullian (AD 160 – 225), the first great Christian writer in the Latin language was a native of Carthage, in modern day Tunisia. He provided the church with deep reflections on the relationship between Christianity and the Roman Empire, proper moral behavior of Christians, and most notably he was the first Christian writer to use the word “Trinity”. In reflecting on the incarnation, he wrote,

“But we see in Christ two forms of being, not confused with each other, but joined together in one person, Jesus, who is both God and man. And the proper nature of each substance keeps its own full reality.”

Cyprian of Carthage (200 – 258), born into a wealthy family and upon conversion, gave his entire fortune away to the poor. Cyprian had a total commitment to the unity of the church and the importance of church membership. He said, “Whoever stands apart from the church and is joined to an adulteress is cut off from the promises given to Christ’s Church. ”When facing his execution for leading people away from paganism to faith in Jesus, he cried, “Thanks be to God!”

Athanasius of Alexandria (296-373), serving as a deacon at the time of the Council of Nicaea, he distinguished himself as a firm defender of the deity of Christ. He would go on to become a key figure in Christian thought. He stood ‘contra mundum’, i.e., ‘against the world’, as many were following the Arian heresy. Athanasius is an example of not going along with popular opinion (1 John 4:1-6).

Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430), considered to be the greatest theologian to arise since the apostle Paul. A powerful and bright mind, positioned in just the right time in history to counter the Pelagian heresy. Augustine penned several great Christian works: Confessions, On the Trinity, and City of God. These works have been influential throughout the ages. In his commentary on John 15:16, Augustine writes, “You did not choose Me,” Christ says, “but I chose you”.

Such grace is beyond description. What were we, apart from Christ’s choice of us, when we were empty of love? What were we but sinful and lost? We did not lead Him to choose us by believing in Him; for if Christ choose people who already believed, then we chose Him before He chose us. How then could He say, “You did not choose Me,” unless His mercy came before our faith?”

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witness, my prayer is that you open the family album that the Lord has so graciously given us.

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