By Jimmy Scroggins
In a culture that can be hostile to Christian values, pastors and ministry leaders face the urgent challenge of leading God’s people to stand firm and pass our faith on to the next generation. Yet one of the most vital and often overlooked arenas of faithfulness is the home. True ministry faithfulness does not begin in the pulpit, the planning meeting, or the boardroom. It begins at the dinner table—with our spouse, our children, and our grandchildren. Faithful leaders lead faithful families.
When pastors prioritize their families, they model to the church body that ministry is about faithfulness and love expressed first within their own walls. It is not about performance or production. Our homes are the first proving ground of discipleship, and our families the first flock entrusted to our care.
The Family as the First Ministry
When the Apostle Paul outlined the qualifications for pastors in 1 Timothy 3, he made one truth inescapably clear: Spiritual leadership in the church begins with spiritual leadership at home. Paul writes, “If someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” (v. 5).
Paul’s point is not that pastors must be perfect, but that they must manage their household well. The word “manage” implies that there is something to be managed. As a husband and a father, there are going to be things that happen which may not be your fault, but they are your responsibility. We must address those issues and manage them toward the gospel of Jesus as best we can.
Our marriages and our parenting are the anvil on which our pastoring skills are forged and the proving ground where they are verified. We must prove that we can care for the little family in the little house so people can trust us to care for God’s family in the big house. A pastor is supposed to show people what it looks like when the beauty of God’s design is properly implemented. With God’s help, we love unconditionally, forgive quickly, and pursue God’s design relentlessly.
Leading Families in a Broken World
We no longer live in a place where culture reinforces Christian values. Often, the culture at large actively rejects God’s design for truth, gender, sexuality, and family structure. In such a world, Christian parents—especially fathers—are on the front lines of a spiritual battle for the hearts of their children.
Parents see a world lined up against their children’s faith. They feel the pressure of schools, media, and social systems all pushing against biblical conviction, and they are looking to the church for help. Churches that call up fathers to fight for their marriages and their children will have a future. Those that fail to equip families for this fight will fade.
As pastors, we must not only preach truth, we must model it in our homes and lead our people to apply it in their homes. The local church should be a spiritual boot camp for Christian families, equipping them to resist cultural lies and live out gospel truth with courage and joy.
Three Ways Pastors Can Equip Families to Stand Firm
So how can ministry leaders practically help families thrive in today’s world? Here are three key commitments every pastor should make.
1. Go All In on Marriage
Few ministries have a greater long-term impact than those that strengthen marriages. Preach about marriage often. Encourage young adults to pursue marriage—not because it is easy but because it is good and glorifying to God. Encourage them to think more about building a marriage to last a lifetime rather than throwing the party of the century. Offer mentorship for engaged and newly married couples. Provide counseling and community for those in crisis.
The church must be the one place where people still believe in marriage—not as a fairy tale, but as a gospel covenant. Equip husbands and wives to see their marriage as their first ministry. When the gospel transforms marriages, it transforms children, and when it transforms children, it transforms communities.
2. Go All In on Children
Our churches must reassert that children are a blessing, not a burden. Encourage young couples to have children earlier rather than later and to have more children rather than fewer. Of course, we want to be sensitive to people who are single or struggling with infertility as we do this, but we can’t let the exceptions nullify the rule.
Teach parents that they are the primary disciplers of their children. It is not the church’s job to lead their child to know and love Jesus. We tell parents that church is a spiritual Home Depot: “They can do it and we can help.” Equip families to bring God’s Word, prayer, and worship into the rhythms of daily life.
Invest deeply in children’s ministries that are both biblically rich and relationally engaging. Equip your teams not just to entertain but to disciple. Every child raised to love Jesus is a victory for the Kingdom—and every parent equipped to lead at home multiplies your church’s gospel impact.
3. Go All In on Church-Based Schools
Education shapes worldview—and worldview shapes eternity. While we should support Christian teachers serving in public schools, we must also recognize that many school systems have abandoned biblical morality. Churches can step into this gap by forming new models of Christian education: homeschool cooperatives, affordable academies, or hybrid programs that align with the mission of the gospel.
Pastors cannot do this alone, but they can cast vision, rally resources, and empower educators. If every gospel-centered church offered a gospel-centered education pathway, we could reshape generations to come. If we truly want to fight for our families, we must reclaim how our children are formed.
Cultivating a Family Culture in the Church
Beyond programs and policies, pastors must cultivate a church culture that honors family faithfulness. Celebrate anniversaries. Pray over new parents. Host family nights, father-daughter events, and marriage workshops. Speak often about the beauty of parenthood and the sacredness of the home. When your people see that you value families, they will begin to value theirs more deeply too.
Encourage seasoned parents to mentor younger ones. Create spaces where fathers can meet to challenge one another and where mothers can find encouragement. A church that loves families well will always have a place for the lonely, the broken, and the searching—because strong families create strong gospel witness.
The Gospel Opportunity Before Us
Our culture may be unraveling, but that means people are searching for something solid. Parents who once ignored faith are now desperate for direction. They know the world feels wrong—they just don’t know why. This is a gospel moment. As pastors, we have the answer: the beauty of God’s design and the hope of Jesus Christ.
When pastors lead with conviction and compassion, when we prioritize our families and teach our people to do the same, the church becomes a refuge for weary parents and a lighthouse for the next generation. Let’s be the pastors who stay in the game with our own families and with our church families. Let’s raise up parents who fight to pass on their faith to the next generation. And let’s begin where ministry begins—at home.
Jimmy Scroggins | Lead Pastor, Family Church
Pictured: Collin Coffee, M.Div., 2019, and his family
