Family Matters

Although I was brought up in Lancaster county, my parents weren’t from this area. I’ve learned over the years, it’s not unusual for people to spend time with extended family. This means weekends would be spent with grandparents, uncles, aunts, and of course cousins. Biological family was a priority in Lancaster County culture.

I’m not trying to say this is wrong. It isn’t wrong at all but this idea is a bit foreign to myself. I do have family in the surrounding area and we do get together but it’s also not every weekend. While growing up, my parents would connect with people at the church. We often had people over for dinner and we would get to know people.

My parents made it a priority to build relationships with others but never made it where my brothers and I were not a part of that time. Through the years, due to my parents' influence, we would build relationships with people from church. These relationships were strong and for the most part healthy. Still to this day, we go to our friends for Easter because in a way we had been grafted into their family.


As I processed this information, I realized that family is more than just blood. Family can be people we surround ourselves with in order to encourage, support, and challenge. I base this in the idea of the church. We get a brief description in Acts of the church in 2:44-47; “All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved”.


The early church shows us a picture of a group of people who met together, ate together, and even supported one another. This is what a family should do for one another. We are to come together with the common goal of encouraging and supporting.


I also believe you need to be able to challenge yourself as well. For instance, I love when Paul challenges Peter on leading others astray. Here’s what Paul writes to the Galatians: “When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray” (Galatians 2:11-13 NIV)

A part of being a family is being able to challenge and question our brothers and sisters. Sometimes we are just wrong. I can think of a time where I said some things to my friends and my older brother went and challenged me. He then told my father and we had a discussion in which I could see things not through my perspective. The correction helped me move forward and grow wiser (well hopefully).


I do believe that our community is important. I do believe the church plays an important part in building a thriving community. The church, which is a family, is one that we could be there to support and challenge one another. The church should be a place of safety where people look out for the best of a person. Of course, this won’t be perfect. The idea is that we strive to make a place safe for people to come together and be who God created us to be.

This empowerment should, in hope, inspire us to go to others and invite them to be a part of the family. Not force people to follow our rules, but show them that walking in the ways of Christ leads to a place of true peace.

Over the last few years, my family has grown in the sense that I’ve connected with people who have inspired, encouraged, and challenged me in life. I don’t see myself as the same person I was last year let alone several years ago. If we allow ourselves to take a risk and open our hearts, we may experience life giving the presence of God’s family.

As I mentioned earlier, it won’t be perfect. There may be mistakes along the way. Wisdom and prayer must be involved in the process. Yet, as Christ followers, I believe we must strive for this family feeling where we are encouraged, challenged, and most of all loved.