Q: Why is family important?
A: The institution of "Family"
is important because it is of God! God is Love and the "Family"
was created by God to serve as an individual's primary source of knowledge,
understanding, and experience of Love.
Q: What was God's purpose for creating family?
A: The family unit is to be a united and holy fellowship
characterized by instruction, learning, service, and growth. The family
exists to perpetuate from one generation to the next the glory and
honor of the Almighty God.
Q: What was God's original design for the family
structure?
A: According to God's plan, the family is structured
like the human body. There is a head of the family and then every
member of that family has a role and a purpose to fulfill. While we
traditionally define the family as consisting of a father, a mother,
and children, there are many biblical references that extend the family
to not just those of a common bloodline or ancestry. These references
more broadly include everyone within the household; all who are united
under one roof, that live in peace and fellowship with one head.
The head of the household must be clear
about the purpose of the family and dutiful to assure that there is
instruction and learning. In Genesis 18:18-19, the scriptures say:
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation,
and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I
know him, that he will command his children and his household after
him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and
judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath
spoken of him.
God is saying that He knew Abraham would be a good head of his own
family and would assure that his household walked before God in a
way that could fulfill the Lord's promise.
Q: What are the consequences in our society for abandoning
God's family structure?
A: In our society and particularly in the African-American
community, it
is too often forgotten that where there is no head, the body can
not exist. The male heads of a great number of families are absent
within our community or lack clarity around what it means to be a
family head; to be the type of Abraham. When we have family units
where the father or mother is missing and if that remaining parent
does not know that faith in and obedience to the Almighty God will
guide and keep them, they walk aimlessly before their children.
The phrase "dysfunctional family"
is an oxymoron. Families were made by God to function and not made
for dysfunction. It is the "moving away" from faith in God
and His purpose for creating family that has resulted in dysfunction.
Whenever the head of the household or family is weak, confused, or
just plain "wrong" and evil, it wreaks havoc on the whole
family.
Q: How should families deal with anger?
A: People tend to think, "If i'm a Christian, then
I can't ever get angry with my spouse or with my children." In
Matthew 1:2, the bible says, "be angry, but sin not!" There
will be times when you need to show your anger, but you should not
cross the line and commit a sin.
Instruction and counseling is sorely
needed for "dysfunctional" families whether they be traditional,
single-mother, single-father or blended (where two families from two
different marriages come together). The only thing that will make
a family successful is faith in God's word and being clear about the
purpose for which the fellowship exists.
Q: How can Atlanta's congregation reform and strengthen the family
structure today?
A: Clearly we need more education and communication. We need
to find as many avenues for training, education and instruction as
possible and that is what I am committing myself to do as Pastor.
Daddy Madison is doing this throughout the Kingdom. My hope is that
we can do it proactively to prevent the destruction of families rather
than reactively endeavoring to heal wounded families.
It amazes me that so many people come
to services where we talk about faith, yet they leave out of the House
of Prayer and go home clueless about what to do in times of family
crises. They fail to apply God's word to the healing of their families.
Financial difficulties, distrust, unkind words, manipulation and abuse
are all brought into family relationships by the enemy. The institution
of family must be a wonderful creation of God for Satan to work so
hard to try to destroy households, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers,
and children. Healthy families will not exist without having faith
to love God for His word and knowing that everything God does is motivated
by love.
