Discipleship Strategy for Your Family

Within the family contains one of the greatest opportunities for discipleship and one of the greatest challenges for consistency. Your family members provide you the greatest opportunity to encourage and to discourage spiritual growth.

When Jesus isn’t the centerpiece of the home, every inch of it is out of place.

Let’s study Eph. 5:22-6:4 to see what Jesus at the center of the home looks like.

  • All order in the family and submission among relationships all have one common head – the lordship of Jesus.
  • Paul describes washing in the water of the Word (Eph. 5:26). While he doesn’t give a model, he does give a mandate. The Word is paramount to family discipleship.
  • The marriage relationship is a sanctifying tool in the hand of God.
  • The perfect scenario for children is when obedience to parents is easily seen as obedience to God.
  • Parents must discipline themselves before they discipline their children.

Col. 1:27-29 provides a guide by which to disciple one another.

  1. DELIGHT (“hope of glory”)
  2. DISOBEDIENCE (“warning”)
  3. DOCTRINE (“teaching”)
  4. DEVELOPMENT (“complete”)
  5. DISCIPLINE (“toil”)
  6. DEPENDENCE (“powerfully works”)

QUESTIONS

  1. What makes talking about our faith with our family such a difficult conversation?
  2. How has someone in your family helped your walk with Jesus?
  3. Read Deut. 6:4-9 and notice the structure of how God expected the families to talk about the Lord. When and where were they supposed to have those conversations?
  4. While structured times of gathering together are important, why do you think God gave a mandate to talk about God rather than a specific model of how to talk about God?
  5. What are some things you think you can do with your family members who need to get closer to Jesus?