The Family and the Kingdom

Tithing is part of the Christian view of life and reality that is concerned above all with faith, justice, and mercy. Because we believe that the earth is the Lord’s and all it contains, ALL we have belongs to God, and He requires that a small portion of that be given back to Him to extend His righteousness, His justice, and His kingdom.

The question of ethics is inevitable; no one can escape it since we are communal creatures. By definition, ethics concerns how I live with others. All of us were created for and are born into a family and a society. Cultivating holiness in community is the real challenge. Two extremes we as Christians need to avoid in our approach to God's law are anti-nomianism and legalism.

Marriage is used throughout Scripture as a picture of the relationship between God and His people, Christ and the Church, and even a picture of the relationships within the Trinity. In marriage, there is a deep unity possible between a man and a woman which is so radical and profound that what results is described as a new creation. This deep unity requires self-abandonment and submission.

Throughout the world, education always seeks to impart the overarching values of the culture to the student. Religious neutrality in education is a myth. The call upon the Christian church in our day is the same one taken up by the early church: to redeem and transform a decaying culture through the educational mandate and redeem education for Christ through re-establishing the truly Christian school.

The family is God’s basic institution, and the church is God’s family, of which Christ is head. The true and only source of power in life is the Holy Spirit, and His power manifest in a life of obedience to the gospel of God. As we are transformed by a full-orbed gospel, our families, and thereby the church, will be transformed and prepared to engage culture at every level.