Author: Church China

Even though we face difficulties and conflicts, and even though we are busy serving the church, we are a people who have been loved. Our whole lives belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, so we should depend on him in all things and glorify him in all that we do. Since we are loved, we ought to have the same mind as Christ, caring for our earthly parents in the Lord with a heart of gratitude. We ought to consider before God how we can practically care for the physical and spiritual health of our elderly parents. 

As we take care of our parents, even though children can easily spend more of their energy and worry taking care of the physical and emotional needs of their parents, as Christians we ought to pay more attention to our parents’ spiritual well-being. As children who were the first to believe, we are entrusted by God with this responsibility, and we will have to give an account to him.

As Christians who have been given the great grace of salvation in Jesus Christ, we should strive to discern secular ideas, to war against the sins of our flesh, and to confront and reflect on God’s will through the gospel. May the Lord lead us to repentance and back to his will. Because the Lord died for us on the cross and forgave all our sins, making us children of God and giving us the eternal hope of the Kingdom of Heaven, we ought to support our parents with hearts full of gratitude, relying on and trusting in his promises as we testify to the name of our Savior Christ. God will remember our faithfulness and bless us.

In this case, I think that the value of the Reformation for the Chinese house church lies in this – a conscious identity with the true meaning of the traditions of the holy universal church in theology, ministry, governing systems, etc., brought about by the rediscovery of the gospel. Apart from anti-institutionalism, I think the traditions of the Chinese house church are much in agreement with the spirit of the Reformation, but it lacks a self-identity. This self-identity can come either from an intellectually-led social identity or from the rediscovery of the gospel.

All in all, during the entire process of conceiving, delivering, and educating [children], we should rely on God as a whole. Knowing some knowledge and some general rules is good, but it is not the foundation for raising children. When it deviates from the gospel of the cross, knowledge can only make people arrogant. Only God can make our children grow. As parents, we can only build them up with God’s word, pray for them, and entrust them to God. Only with the cross of salvation, the presence of God, and the supply of God’s grace, can we and our descendants triumph.

Speaking of parenting, people may have a lot to share. Nevertheless, as Christians, we are aware that there is no certain method or trick to training by which, we can we achieve the goal; it can only be achieved by God, by relying on his promises and his grace. True, in some well-known parenting books, there might be many applicable rules; however, problems arise through practicing these rules, and the Bible is the only one we can always trust. Besides, relentless war goes on between legalism and anti-legalism. For example, when someone succeeds according to “Method A” from a certain book, it can seem legalistic; on the contrary, it can go to anti-legalism, denying everything in the book, including the good parts, when “Method A” doesn’t work. Both sides depart the will of raising children in the gospel. Thanks be to God who gave me two children, and guided me with his unfailing love and faithfulness during the whole time, leading me back to his cross and grace. Below are some thoughts from my own experience of raising children.