Many pastors believe that since China's reform and opening up, churches have prioritized increasing the number of believers over enhancing the quality of faith. This focus has led to various shortcomings and issues within the churches.
Historically, churches emphasized individual believers over families, with size and believer numbers attracted as the key metrics. The believer's marital status, family's faith, and lifestyle were often overlooked.
Many Chinese believers are single when they embrace faith. Believers who have non-believing spouses often face obstacles, persecution, and even violence from their non-believing spouses and others.
While believers feel graceful in the church, their home life can be vastly different. The separation of beliefs and lives is evident, prompting the need for a more integrated approach where believers receive love and grace in the church and reciprocate at home.
The model of prioritizing church size over the well-being of believers' families is deemed unhealthy. Pastors and believers alike must prioritize healthy family lives as they significantly impact overall well-being. For ordinary believers, family holds more significance than the church.
In recent years, pastors have recognized the importance of marriage and family. Pastor Liu, who specializes in marriage ministry in a city in northwest China, stresses the importance of believers marrying fellow believers for a strong and lasting faith.
He finds that some Christians who have been pillars of church services when they are single will stop serving once they get married to unbelieving or nominally believing partners. Yet, after quitting the service, the believers do not live a happy married life, and many later abandon their faith. However, if they marry fellow believers, their faith will be firm.
Elder Luo has served in a church in a northern city for many years. Acknowledging the mobility of single young people and the stability of families, Luo's church introduced marriage preparation courses and promoted family altars. Emphasizing stable families for a stable church, they encourage family worship, viewing a family as a mini-church.
They have been working hard to promote family altars and worship in the past two years. In the beginning, only a few families attended, but now dozens of families have started to do family worship services.
Acknowledging the neglect of pastoral and humanistic care in many lively church activities, some pastors advocate "relationships first, ministry second." They believe that a flourishing church grows from strong relationships, especially those between spouses and within families.
Some pastors consider encouraging believers to exemplify their faith in their families as a vital church task. “Our church attaches great importance to believers’ spirituality and family lives. Therefore, there are increasingly more couples and families in our church.”
- Translated by Charlie Li
不少牧者认为，自从改革开放重新起步以来，中国教会整体上一直在追求数量的成长而非质量的提高。因而中国教会还有非常多的缺欠和问题，还有很多要补的功课。
我们看到，在过去很多教会所关注的多是个体而非家庭，因为判断一所教会的规模的标准是信徒数量。至于这个信徒是单身还是已婚、家人有没有信主、信徒生活状态如何，教会并不太关心。
中国教会相当数量的信徒都是一个人独身信主，有的地方把夫妻二人却只有一个人信主的情况称之为“单道传”。相当长的一段时间内，他们常常遭受到来自配偶和其他人的阻碍、逼迫甚至殴打。
我们会发现，信徒在教会得到了恩典，可是回到家以后就要面对完全不同的生活状态。这时信徒的信仰和生活是割裂的。在教会里面得到爱和恩典，然后回到家里以后付出爱、消耗恩典。
毫无疑问，教会只关注教会规模、信徒数量却对信徒的家庭状况和生活状况不闻不问的模式并不健康。牧者、信徒他们的家庭不健康的话，他们的状况就很容易非常糟糕。尤其对于普通信徒来说，比起教会，家庭是更加重要的。
近年来，许多牧者都发现和意识到了婚姻和家庭对于信徒和教会的重要性。西北某城市从事婚姻事工的刘老师就认为基督徒在主内团体中结婚非常重要。因为他发现：有一些基督徒单身的时候在教会里面是服事的顶梁柱，但因为对方不信，或者只是名义上有信仰，一结婚然后这个基督徒就不再服事。然而离开服侍后，很多人过得也并不好，后来离弃信仰的也有很多。但是在主内团体中结婚的话，他们的信仰就会很坚定。
一名在北方某城市教会服事多年的罗长老就发现，在教会里面单身年轻人的流动性非常大。有很多年轻人就是为了找对象才来教会的，如果在这所教会没有找到，那很可能他们就会到别的教会去继续找，直到找着为止。不同教会之间单身年轻人的流动现象非常普遍。而与单身年轻人相比，已婚的信徒就会稳定很多；而如果家庭稳定的话，那么教会都会变得稳定。
正是因为认识到了婚姻和家庭对于信徒和教会的重要性，罗长老的教会迅速作出的调整和改变。针对单身年轻人，他们推出了一系列的婚姻预备课程；同时这两年来一直在努力推进家庭礼拜和家庭祭坛。最开始的时候，只有几个家庭参加，但现在，已经有几十个家庭开始做家庭礼拜。通过这样的方式让家庭成为教会。
有教会牧者认为，教会经常做很多的活动等等，看起来很热闹。但是很多教会长期以来不太注重牧养和人文关怀，对教会中人与人的关系还有家庭都有很多忽略的地方。经过一系列的事情和思考以后，他们推出了“先关系，后事工”的口号，把关系作为一切事工和活动的前提。有一句话说，荣耀的教会是从夫妻关系中长出来的。因此，他们非常重视家庭，重视夫妻关系的建造、亲子关系的建造等等。
有牧者强调教会的工作之一就是教导信徒并且让信徒的生活成为见证，而且首先是要在自己的家庭里面成为美好的见证。“我们教会很重视生活，重视信徒在家庭和现实生活中活出来见证。所以，我们教会里面夫妻特别多，家庭特别多。”
特稿|教会需要关心信徒的家庭
Many pastors believe that since China's reform and opening up, churches have prioritized increasing the number of believers over enhancing the quality of faith. This focus has led to various shortcomings and issues within the churches.
Historically, churches emphasized individual believers over families, with size and believer numbers attracted as the key metrics. The believer's marital status, family's faith, and lifestyle were often overlooked.
Many Chinese believers are single when they embrace faith. Believers who have non-believing spouses often face obstacles, persecution, and even violence from their non-believing spouses and others.
While believers feel graceful in the church, their home life can be vastly different. The separation of beliefs and lives is evident, prompting the need for a more integrated approach where believers receive love and grace in the church and reciprocate at home.
The model of prioritizing church size over the well-being of believers' families is deemed unhealthy. Pastors and believers alike must prioritize healthy family lives as they significantly impact overall well-being. For ordinary believers, family holds more significance than the church.
In recent years, pastors have recognized the importance of marriage and family. Pastor Liu, who specializes in marriage ministry in a city in northwest China, stresses the importance of believers marrying fellow believers for a strong and lasting faith.
He finds that some Christians who have been pillars of church services when they are single will stop serving once they get married to unbelieving or nominally believing partners. Yet, after quitting the service, the believers do not live a happy married life, and many later abandon their faith. However, if they marry fellow believers, their faith will be firm.
Elder Luo has served in a church in a northern city for many years. Acknowledging the mobility of single young people and the stability of families, Luo's church introduced marriage preparation courses and promoted family altars. Emphasizing stable families for a stable church, they encourage family worship, viewing a family as a mini-church.
They have been working hard to promote family altars and worship in the past two years. In the beginning, only a few families attended, but now dozens of families have started to do family worship services.
Acknowledging the neglect of pastoral and humanistic care in many lively church activities, some pastors advocate "relationships first, ministry second." They believe that a flourishing church grows from strong relationships, especially those between spouses and within families.
Some pastors consider encouraging believers to exemplify their faith in their families as a vital church task. “Our church attaches great importance to believers’ spirituality and family lives. Therefore, there are increasingly more couples and families in our church.”
- Translated by Charlie Li
Pastors Stress the Importance of Family Ministry in Church
