“Instead of being confined to the church, Christian faith and life should be strengthened and extended through family worship.”
Recently, the Christian Times, an online Chinese Christian Newspaper, interviewed a pastor (called H for short), who said some unhealthy phenomena in many churches were related to the failure of inheritance of faith in the family. He urged local Christian families to stick to the tradition of family worship.
From the history of Israelites, Pastor H talked about the importance of the family altar, through which they preserved ethnic culture and faith traditions. For nearly 2000 years, they were displaced around the world after their homes were destroyed. Thanks to a strong family education system, they came back to rebuild their country speaking the same language 2000 years later.
He gave examples from the Old and New Testaments. “Noah was the first person recorded in the book of Genesis who after the blood built an altar on which he took some of all the clean animals and clean birds and sacrificed these burnt offerings. It was clear to the Israelites which were the clean things and which were the unclean ones. For the ancient Chinese, they chose the fattest and best sacrifice to offer to God. In the New Testament times, Jesus is being the sacrifice as he died for our sins to make us holy through His blood once and for all.”
“We can see that the sacrifice by the priest in the temple was converted to the new covenant between the individual and God which was a living sacrifice,” he continued.
“The old generation, suffering the persecution during the Cultural Revolution, became the backbone of the church after experiencing the spiritual growth in the family gatherings, which sometimes several families attended. They were willing to suffer and pay the price for the church which reopened after the Cultural Revolution.”
“On the contrary, we, the younger believers, often choose an easier and more convenient way to worship God as we suffer less in our ministry. When we choose the staff members, we care about whether they are enthusiastic rather than whether they are spiritually mature.”
H revealed a phenomenon that the leadership of elders or deacons who do not meet the requirement of the position affected the quality of pastoral care.
He emphasized, “One important reason for the circumstance of the church is that believers or their children don’t worship God at their homes.”
“Christians used to think that it would be a lasting blessing to their children that they were left in the Sunday school for one or two hours once a week, but that is not going to happen.”
When talking about how to build a family altar, he added, “In the evening or at noon, whole family members sit down to worship God at a fixed time for ten or fifteen minutes in a clean and quiet room. We also can learn the word of God with prayers and gratitude to Him in bed if there is a baby in the family, as God places value on our willingness to have intimacy with Him. During the worship, members can’t make noise.”
“We encourage the father to lead the gathering, but the mother can also be the leader if the father hasn’t believed or it is a single-parent family.”
Sharing his own testimony, Pastor H said, “I myself benefited from the family services. Due to unforeseen circumstances around age 10, my parents often brought me and my sister together to sing a hymn and take turns reading scriptures with intercessions.”
“The family altar is a vessel made by God to teach the children to trust and serve Jesus from an early age. As a command of Him, the building of a family altar is vital to the development of the church. We should serve God starting from worshipping in the family by gathering members to read God’s word, witness His grace, and praise Him.”
“The covenant was made by God with the family, so each Christian has the responsibility to conduct family service to pass on the faith from generation to generation. We should bear the cross to pass down the faith which is essential in this day and age,” he concluded.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
“基督徒的信仰和生活不该只是局限在教会里头，更重要的是在家庭当中如何通过家庭祭坛来坚固和延伸我们的信仰。”
日前，基督时报采访了一位来自东南有着多年牧会经验的H牧者， 他谈到当下他看到的许多教会里面一些不健康的现象，在他看来，这些现象的背后都与家庭中的信仰传承有关系。他积极推动当地信众家庭坚守家庭祭坛的信仰传统，让福音从家开始。
他从以色列人的历史去看家庭祭坛的重要性，当以色列人被灭国之后，有将近 2000 年的时间，他们在全世界各地颠沛流离。可是在两千年之后，他们还是可以重新地建立他们的国家，基本还是在说一样的言语。那是因为他们有强大的家庭教育体系，因为他们通过家庭祭坛的方式来保留着自己族群的文化和信仰传统。
他从新旧约中举例说：“在创世纪当中最早提到筑坛就是挪亚，他在洪水之后，就筑了一座坛，然后把各样洁净的动物和飞鸟，献给耶和华。对于以色列人来讲，什么是洁净的东西？什么是不洁净的东西分得很清晰，而对于中国古人，必须要去挑选那最肥壮，最好的祭物，因为是要献给神所使用的。到了新约，耶稣基督，他取代了这个祭物，他不单单为我们的罪而死，成为了永远的大祭司，用自己的血一次进入圣所，为我们成就了永远赎罪的事件。”
“我们就看到祭物和献祭的地方，在旧约里头是从圣殿的大祭司的献祭转变成为新约——个人和上帝之间的关系，也就是活祭。”
“起初，教会经过文革之后刚刚开放的时候，那群人他们吃过文革的苦，那群人是在家里聚会，甚至也有的可能是好几个家庭聚在一起。他们在家庭聚会当中成长，加上他们吃的很多的苦。所以在文革过后，教会最初重新开放的时候，这群人成为教会的中坚力量，他们为了教会，他们愿意付出代价，愿意吃苦。
“相反，我们这一批信众，在事奉的当中，因为吃过的苦少，所以我们常常就会选择更轻便的方式来敬拜上帝。当我们要去服事主的时候，慢慢的我们就会把眼光定睛在这个人热心与否，而忘记了或忽略他/她属灵生命的深度。”
他揭开一个现象，那就是今天教会里的那些中坚力量可能是教会的长老执事，可是他/她的生命并没有达到那个位份的要求，因此，导致了这个教会在他/她的带领下面，信众整体的灵性生命质量越来越低。
“家庭祭坛的重要性就在这里”他强调说：“因为今天我们的教会成为这样的光景，其实离不开一个很重要的原因，就是很多家庭失去了祭坛，他们没有在家里面去敬拜上帝。”
“信众们过去以为一周把孩子抛给教会一次，每一个礼拜可能经过礼拜天那一两个小时的聚会，就期待能够成为他一生当中的受用无穷的祝福，这是不可能的。”
当谈到那如何的来建立家庭祭坛的时候，他强调说：“建立家庭祭坛首先是一个时间，我们要找一个全家人都在的一个时间雷打不动，这个时间不必要太长。特别是有幼儿的家庭可能 10 到 15 分钟就可以了。那么这个时间试着情形来调整，有时候可以做一个晚上，有时候中午白天找一个时间，全家人都在坐下来，这个地点可以随意，但是一定是以干净和安静的为原则。其次，不要在敬拜和分享的时候，有人在吵闹。如果家里面有婴儿，我们甚至可以在床上也没关系。因为上帝看重的是我们的内心，我们整体的内容以上帝的话语为主，里面有个人的感恩，也有需要祷告的事情。”
“对于带领者，我们鼓励以父亲为主，但是如果情况有变化，有一些单亲的家庭或者是父亲没有信，那么也可以母亲来带领大家。”
H牧者分享了自己的见证：“我自己本身就是受益于家庭祭坛的。在我10岁左右，因为家里面出现了一些变故，所以那个时候我的妈妈跟我的父亲就把全家人聚在一起，加上姐姐我们四个人在每一天晚上就会坐下来唱一首圣诗，唱完了之后就读一段经文，那有时候有一些需要代祷的事，我们就说出来。有时候当我们读完圣经之后，之后就轮流到父亲，后天轮到母亲。”
“家庭祭坛是上帝以家庭为中心兴起的器皿，它的兴起对教会未来至关重要。家庭祭坛就是我们全家人聚在一起读上帝的话，聚在一起见证上帝的恩典，聚在一起敬拜赞美上帝的时间。家庭祭坛的建立其实是上帝的吩咐，因为侍奉神就是要从家里。至于我和我家，我们必定事奉耶和华。因为他们教导他的儿孙从小就要信靠神，从小就要服事神。（==后句当summary）”
“上帝的圣约是与我们家庭设立的，因此每个基督徒都有责任在家庭中分别为圣，致力于家庭祭坛的建造，使敬虔的信仰代代相传。在这个时代里头，我们有一个信仰的传承是至关重要的，愿我们为此背起各自的十字架。”
https://christiantimes.cn/news/37625/%E8%A7%82%E7%82%B9%EF%BD%9C%E4%B8%9C%E5%8D%97%E4%B8%80%E7%89%A7%E8%80%85%E8%B0%88%EF%BC%9A%E4%BB%8E%E4%BB%A5%E8%89%B2%E5%88%97%E4%BA%BA%E5%8E%86%E5%8F%B2%E7%9C%8B%E5%AE%B6%E5%BA%AD%E7%A5%AD%E5%9D%9B%E7%9A%84%E9%87%8D%E8%A6%81%E6%80%A7
观点｜东南一牧者谈：从以色列人历史看家庭祭坛的重要性
“Instead of being confined to the church, Christian faith and life should be strengthened and extended through family worship.”
Recently, the Christian Times, an online Chinese Christian Newspaper, interviewed a pastor (called H for short), who said some unhealthy phenomena in many churches were related to the failure of inheritance of faith in the family. He urged local Christian families to stick to the tradition of family worship.
From the history of Israelites, Pastor H talked about the importance of the family altar, through which they preserved ethnic culture and faith traditions. For nearly 2000 years, they were displaced around the world after their homes were destroyed. Thanks to a strong family education system, they came back to rebuild their country speaking the same language 2000 years later.
He gave examples from the Old and New Testaments. “Noah was the first person recorded in the book of Genesis who after the blood built an altar on which he took some of all the clean animals and clean birds and sacrificed these burnt offerings. It was clear to the Israelites which were the clean things and which were the unclean ones. For the ancient Chinese, they chose the fattest and best sacrifice to offer to God. In the New Testament times, Jesus is being the sacrifice as he died for our sins to make us holy through His blood once and for all.”
“We can see that the sacrifice by the priest in the temple was converted to the new covenant between the individual and God which was a living sacrifice,” he continued.
“The old generation, suffering the persecution during the Cultural Revolution, became the backbone of the church after experiencing the spiritual growth in the family gatherings, which sometimes several families attended. They were willing to suffer and pay the price for the church which reopened after the Cultural Revolution.”
“On the contrary, we, the younger believers, often choose an easier and more convenient way to worship God as we suffer less in our ministry. When we choose the staff members, we care about whether they are enthusiastic rather than whether they are spiritually mature.”
H revealed a phenomenon that the leadership of elders or deacons who do not meet the requirement of the position affected the quality of pastoral care.
He emphasized, “One important reason for the circumstance of the church is that believers or their children don’t worship God at their homes.”
“Christians used to think that it would be a lasting blessing to their children that they were left in the Sunday school for one or two hours once a week, but that is not going to happen.”
When talking about how to build a family altar, he added, “In the evening or at noon, whole family members sit down to worship God at a fixed time for ten or fifteen minutes in a clean and quiet room. We also can learn the word of God with prayers and gratitude to Him in bed if there is a baby in the family, as God places value on our willingness to have intimacy with Him. During the worship, members can’t make noise.”
“We encourage the father to lead the gathering, but the mother can also be the leader if the father hasn’t believed or it is a single-parent family.”
Sharing his own testimony, Pastor H said, “I myself benefited from the family services. Due to unforeseen circumstances around age 10, my parents often brought me and my sister together to sing a hymn and take turns reading scriptures with intercessions.”
“The family altar is a vessel made by God to teach the children to trust and serve Jesus from an early age. As a command of Him, the building of a family altar is vital to the development of the church. We should serve God starting from worshipping in the family by gathering members to read God’s word, witness His grace, and praise Him.”
“The covenant was made by God with the family, so each Christian has the responsibility to conduct family service to pass on the faith from generation to generation. We should bear the cross to pass down the faith which is essential in this day and age,” he concluded.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Opinion: See the Importance of Family Altar in Israelite History
