I have made a decision.
As we review 2000 years of Christian History, there is a continual theme which I have seen emerging amongst the men who changed the face of the world through missionary work, through their outstanding leadership, through their vision, passion, and ruthless unstoppable commitment to furthering their cause... Total, real, stupidity with women and with their families.
Martin Luther, began the Protestant reformation, but approved bigamy
John Wesley, spearheaded the greatest English revival of Christian faith in all of history, but sabotaged his brother Charles' marriage which resulted in an unhappy marriage to another woman, and John himself also married badly, and his marriage collapsed after a few years.
William Carey, moved to India to establish missionary outposts, plant churches and translate the Bible. He took his family with him, uprooting them from middle class Britain, and relocating to an Indian tribal jungle. His wife lost her mind completely, and he was totally neglectful of his children, who grew up wild and rebellious.
Karl Barth became the foundational theologian of modern baptist theology, but spent the majority of his working life with his much younger female secretary actually living in the same house with him, his wife and his family, much to the personal hurt of his own wife.
My personal reading and understanding of the Bible and the New Testament texts tells me that as a Christian and a husband, my first, primary, overriding, top commitment in serving God, is faithfulness and service to my wife and family. On those grounds, I will not undertake any missionary activity which uproots and damages my family. They will come first, missionary activity comes second.
Some might argue that we as Christians are called first to serve God, and our families second, but I would counter that the Bible is clear that supporting and protecting your own family is much more important and foundational to a life lived in commitment to my religion, than going to an alien culture and evangelising there. I would argue that by putting my family first, I am actually putting God first, and remember that the New Testament describes anyone who does not take care of their family as 'worse than an unbeliever'. So from a certain perspective, the rejection of your family is worse than rejecting God!
The questions and implications are huge. Would I rather; transform the country, see thousands of people come to faith in Jesus, inspire a revolution, or; take care of my family and live a quiet normal life?
My answer is simply that I can not pursue the former if it ever threatens the latter. I would rather take care of my own and not spark any revolution at all, than transform the world and have my family fall apart. I know that goes against the grain of radical Christian missionary passion, but I don't care. I'll do a smaller, less noticeable revolution - rejecting all the Christian Superstar Mega Hero stuff, saying 'thats not for me', remaining happy to not be a 'story of encouragement' from a pulpit in the future, if it means I have to mis-treat, mis-manage, or neglect my family and their needs. I would choose their financial, social and emotional stability and security ever time, over and above the passionate desire for 'souls'. That desire has a place, but that place is at all times, under my family.
As we review 2000 years of Christian History, there is a continual theme which I have seen emerging amongst the men who changed the face of the world through missionary work, through their outstanding leadership, through their vision, passion, and ruthless unstoppable commitment to furthering their cause... Total, real, stupidity with women and with their families.
Martin Luther, began the Protestant reformation, but approved bigamy
John Wesley, spearheaded the greatest English revival of Christian faith in all of history, but sabotaged his brother Charles' marriage which resulted in an unhappy marriage to another woman, and John himself also married badly, and his marriage collapsed after a few years.
William Carey, moved to India to establish missionary outposts, plant churches and translate the Bible. He took his family with him, uprooting them from middle class Britain, and relocating to an Indian tribal jungle. His wife lost her mind completely, and he was totally neglectful of his children, who grew up wild and rebellious.
Karl Barth became the foundational theologian of modern baptist theology, but spent the majority of his working life with his much younger female secretary actually living in the same house with him, his wife and his family, much to the personal hurt of his own wife.
My personal reading and understanding of the Bible and the New Testament texts tells me that as a Christian and a husband, my first, primary, overriding, top commitment in serving God, is faithfulness and service to my wife and family. On those grounds, I will not undertake any missionary activity which uproots and damages my family. They will come first, missionary activity comes second.
Some might argue that we as Christians are called first to serve God, and our families second, but I would counter that the Bible is clear that supporting and protecting your own family is much more important and foundational to a life lived in commitment to my religion, than going to an alien culture and evangelising there. I would argue that by putting my family first, I am actually putting God first, and remember that the New Testament describes anyone who does not take care of their family as 'worse than an unbeliever'. So from a certain perspective, the rejection of your family is worse than rejecting God!
The questions and implications are huge. Would I rather; transform the country, see thousands of people come to faith in Jesus, inspire a revolution, or; take care of my family and live a quiet normal life?
My answer is simply that I can not pursue the former if it ever threatens the latter. I would rather take care of my own and not spark any revolution at all, than transform the world and have my family fall apart. I know that goes against the grain of radical Christian missionary passion, but I don't care. I'll do a smaller, less noticeable revolution - rejecting all the Christian Superstar Mega Hero stuff, saying 'thats not for me', remaining happy to not be a 'story of encouragement' from a pulpit in the future, if it means I have to mis-treat, mis-manage, or neglect my family and their needs. I would choose their financial, social and emotional stability and security ever time, over and above the passionate desire for 'souls'. That desire has a place, but that place is at all times, under my family.
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