Hot Button Issues
Ministry or Children?
By Cheri Fields
Aug 7, 2005 - 9:58:00 PM

I was browsing through the Christian Blogosphere today ran into a Christian mother’s site where the headline of "Family Planning" couldn’t help but catch my eye.

The writer honestly and with clear conscience believes that non-abortive methods of birth control are appropriate for Christians--not just for health concerns (that wasn’t even mentioned), but for the "ministry’s sake." From what she said, it seems that she believes it to be impossible to have an influence on Christ’s Kingdom when you are in the throes of rearing a dozen children. Her contention is that people are brought to Christ primarily through evangelism, so to trade witnessing for bringing up a small crop of Christians in a family is a bad payoff.

It breaks my heart to see how far Satan has led us as Believers down the road of every couple being in total control of their procreation. The first principle upon which to base such a monumental decision for our lives needs to be that of God as the One in charge of children. He it is that closes and opens the womb; He it is who determines whom and how many He sends to grace the earth and bless His followers. We are simply the vessels He uses to carry out this miracle. Is He really such a primitive and incapable God that He cannot be trusted to give and withhold the responsibilities and opportunities of parenthood as He sees fit? *

It is not nature that determines our in/fertility; it is the Creator of life, the One in Whose kingdom we seek to minister and spend our lives in service for. If He chooses to "sideline" me for a few years that He has permitted me on this earth for the purpose of caring for and nurturing up His little ones, is that not His choice? If I am unable to stand before God on Judgment Day and bring 10,000 converts with me, will I be a failure in His eyes? The Scriptures, I think, are too clear on this matter for me to risk the Author’s displeasure in an area that has such eternal consequences.

With such a base of belief, everything else falls into place. Even ministry itself can become an idol if it takes a higher place in our priorities than God’s commands and way of life (ask the multitudes of ruined, disheartened families of many pastors and missionaries). If we desire to minister, our trust and confidence can only rest on God that He will use us so as to bring Him the most glory and honor for now and eternity--and we need to realize that "ministry" is not limited to outward activities and pursuits.

I would like to also address the idea that the Kingdom is spread primarily through evangelization and not through families. Who in the Scriptures had the most influence on evangelizing the first-century world? Was it not men who had been trained from infancy in the things of God and how to live a life dedicated to Him and not to self and the world? Of the few second-generation examples we are given, who stands out most clearly? Timothy’s mother and grandmother never won a thousand souls to Christ (that we know of). They didn’t go out and start new churches or merit an Epistle of Scripture being written to them, but their labor was not therefore small or meaningless. The early church had a wonderful understanding of the ministry of the Christian home--through hospitality toward saints and strangers, training up godly children, and taking care of the elderly. Rich "ministries" are therefore right under our very noses.

If all we had today were first-generation Christians saved out worldly homes being trained by first-generation Christians in how to evangelize but who never rear up godly children of their own, where would we be? Can such a situation ever measure up to the task assigned us of preaching and discipling the whole world for Christ?

You may say, “Yes, of course such a situation would be ridiculous. I want to raise godly children--just not so many of them.” If God can do so much through a few godly, Spirit-led children, why do we want to limit Him? Would it not be, in the end (the only thing that really counts, after all), best to give Christ as many warriors for His Kingdom as He wants? I must be willing to give up some of my own private "ministry" in the world if it allows me to multiply the ultimate impact I have on the world by taking part in the work of the generations after me.

As parents, our God-given, natural desire for "ministry" can and should be a motivation to do the best job of training up the next generation possible. If I am aware that my rewards in Heaven can be greatly expanded by the fruits of my children’s lives, then I will do my utmost to equip them and be an example of ministry myself. I will give them opportunities from early childhood to care for others and to be witnesses for Christ. I will bring them into the Lord’s work even as youngsters. It may change the sphere of people to whom our family ministers, depending on my children’s ages and even sex, but it will by no means prevent our active participation in ministry.

There is also the idea that ministering must be done at the present and that to delay it is to diminish our rewards. Such a concept is terribly finite and God-limiting. Christ Himself lived thirty quiet years before beginning His public ministry (and limiting His real work to a handful of people who would carry out the greater work in the generation to come). David didn’t come into the kingship as a teenager, and, even in the Church, "novices" are not to take a position of leadership.

Life always requires waiting for the proper time to carry out certain functions. What would we think of a medical student who said, “I want to help people, and I know how the body functions, so I will dedicate myself to treating patients full-time as of today.” God uses our experiences as young parents to teach us wisdom, compassion, and discernment for further ministry in the future. We all know people whose depth of understanding and godliness we admire and seek to emulate. Did they not get to that point in their Christian lives through years of quiet learning at the feet of Christ and through the experiences and responsibilities He sent their way?

May the Lord continue to call His People back to full trust and obedience to Him. May we, through God’s Word, free ourselves of the deceits of the Devil and continue to grow into the fullness of Christ in all we say and do.