The Reformation of the Home

This is it! – what I believe the church has needed to hear for a long while now. This is a single summary paragraph from a book by Douglas Wilson entitled Standing on the Promises.* I hope every Christian pastor in America (and beyond) will soon grasp this truth and practice corresponding faithfulness in Christ. (Notice the italicized portions are my emphases.)

“The first place where this reformation must come is in the area of the requirements the church places upon her elders and deacons. The Scripture requires that church officers manage their homes well, and requires that the children of church officers be believers. The officers of the church are placed by God in a position to be examples to the congregation. The members of the church are commanded to imitate them, carefully considering the outcome of their way of life. This way of life includes the very important matter of how they bring up their children. There will be no reformation and no revival until those pastors who do not meet the child-rearing qualifications of their office step down, in repentance, from their office. Men who have a household in disarray are just as unqualified for church office as a lesbian is. It is way past time for conservative Christians to cease being outraged with the disobedience of others. Why do we remove the beam from their radical eye when we have a telephone pole in our own conservative eye? If the church permitted polygamy among the elders, then the households of the membership would be in shambles as well. Such disobedience cannot produce good fruit. We are guilty of such disobedience, and we must not be astonished at the results. There are, of course, other areas of childrearing which must be addressed as well. But unless this happens within the leadership of the church, all other efforts are futile. And when it happens, as it will, all other reforms will follow.”

* - Standing on the Promises: A Handbook of Biblical Childrearing, by Douglas Wilson. (Canon Press, PO Box 8741, Moscow, Idaho 83843, USA; copyright, 1997 by Douglas Wilson; pg. 167.)