Whole Families Reaching Whole Families

When we walk the halls of our church building, one thing is for certain…there are a lot of kids around here. They bring incredible vibrancy to our church. It is exciting. And at times I receive questions about how my wife and I managed 5 kids while traveling and living overseas. The reason I think this question is important enough to unpack in a way that all of us can think over it is because of the fact that God has brought all of us into his mission and that includes families with kids too. 

I asked my wife, Sara Beth, what she would say to encourage whole families from CFC who are thinking about the unreached places of the world. Here is what she had to say…

We do a lot of compartmentalizing in our lives. Work, family, church, school, sports. Society even helps us as we attend “adult only” or “family-friendly” events and spaces. There are things we do with our kids, and there are things we don’t. Sometimes it's because we feel our kids won’t get anything out of it or it isn’t appropriate to include them. Maybe we just want to be more efficient with our time and the whole family coming along can change that dynamic. We may even feel like our kids will weigh us down and keep us from being effective or useful. Maybe we’re just worried they’ll be bored, or it will be a waste of time or money. Sometimes its just HARD to take the kids—a quick call to a grandparent or a sitter is the easiest route. 

But what if taking the kids is the best thing we could do even it if is the hardest? 

When we think about taking the gospel to the least-reached peoples of the world, we often pray for whole families to hear and receive the Good News. Households of faith are pillars for the gospel in unreached communities. If we want to be part of this task, we need to be willing to have the whole family be all in. The families we reach with the gospel need to see examples of Christian parents with their kids.

When Brian first lived in the Himalayas, he was single. He could spend whole afternoons around a monastery and only engage with a few monks—never once able to talk to the women who were there spending their day walking the circuits to gain merit. When we returned a few years later, with kids in tow, our opportunities for conversation grew exponentially. Whichever kid I had strapped in a carrier on my front or back was an automatic conversation starter among the grandmas. Conversations moved beyond just individuals and usually involved whole families. 

And there are benefits in the discipleship process for our own families. In the same way it helps you to see and experience a new culture in order to better pray for the work and people there, it is even more helpful for your kids, who still go through life very concretely, to see it with their own eyes and understand why those people need Jesus. We need to have shared family experiences in these places, and we need to keep talking about them and praying about them as a family when we return. These are seeds worth planting in our kids’ hearts and minds. 

Long plane rides are intimidating. It's going to be expensive. Jet lag can be tough. They may not like the food. We can make a whole list of reasons for the “cons” category. Yes, it may look different than if you went by yourself, but don’t compartmentalize gospel work overseas into the “adult-only” category or put it off til they are older because it feels too hard right now. Our families need to see and experience both the beauty and the lostness of the world. They need to see us engaging with other cultures and sharing the gospel with those we encounter. It’s worth it. 

This is not a mandate that every family should always go as a family. There are seasons of life to consider, and budgets too. There are different purposes for various short trips the church may take. Some times may be appropriate for kids, and some may not. We simply want to encourage people to be open and prayerfully consider what the Lord may be leading them as a family to do, together!