We will equip families by: becoming a standard bearer of the marriage covenant; equipping men for spiritual leadership; encouraging and training for Biblical manhood and womanhood; providing resources to singles, single parents and their children (Gen 1-3; Deut 6:4-9; Prov 1-31; Eph 5:21-6:4; 1 Tim 1-5; 1 Peter 3:1-7).
The elders of Greenville Christian Assembly will endeavor to teach and lead the members of the congregation in the following biblical mandates.
1. Fathers Serving as Providers, Protectors and Priests. Heads of households will provide for their families. They will protect their family's hearts, souls and bodies from Satan. Lastly, fathers will be the spiritual leaders of their household, beginning with family worship.
2. Daily Family Worship. We believe that in addition to the public means of grace, daily family worship is essential to children's ministry. We believe that as the head of the home, God has given this responsibility to the father who is to call his household together and instruct them out of the Word, not only by reading, but also by explaining and applying, the Bible to them. Because God has specifically appointed this father-led instruction, we, in keeping with our core values, want to be sure this is done well and that our best energy and effort as an assembly is directed toward helping the men to fulfill this responsibility, giving them the encouragement, accountability, guidance, and instruction that they need.
* The elders help the men by modeling family worship for them in their own households (simply inviting them and their families over for their own family worship). They also help them with specific needs like developing a schedule in which worship is a priority, learning how to study and apply the Word, encouraging them when they are afraid, helping them maintain consistency by keeping them accountable, and so forth. This is often done in the context of individual meetings with the men, or in simple conversations with them (for example, after a worship service).
3. Family Integrated Sabbath Worship. To assist parents with young children, we provide a back row seating area for parents with children who are "in training," or require a playpen or blanket on the floor. This enables parents whose children become unruly to avoid being a distraction to other worshipers, but to still hear the worship service. Our congregation appreciates the work involved in training children to attain the skill of participating in worship, and will with Christ, "suffer the little children to come to Him," and encourage parents with patience and support as they train their children.
* As an assembly in the vow to assist the parents in raising children under the admonition of God's word, any adult is welcome to make appropriate remarks to young people who,
by their actions, necessitate correction or reproof. We ask the person making the correction to immediately and humbly inform the parents of the child to allow them the opportunity to ensure repentance and reconciliation, restitution as necessary, and the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
* We believe the children benefit by hearing their parents' discussion after the worship service, whether in gender-specific or integrated discussion. This accomplishes a tacit accountability for the parents to live the words spoken in their children's hearing, and builds a sense of teamwork between the children and parents.
4. Courtship. We believe courtship is the more excellent way of preparing for the responsibilities of marriage rather than contemporary recreational dating. We encourage parents to research for themselves the scriptural basis and illustrative contexts of betrothal compared to the dangers of emotional and physical defrauding found in current recreational dating practices. Modesty of dress and deportment between members of the opposite sex is encouraged and expected to be in keeping with "what becomes the followers of Christ."
[This information was written by elders of various family integrated churches and modified by the elders of Greenville Christian Assembly]
