Church Family

The human family unit is meant to be a small model of how the family of God works. Christians are called to treat each other as if everyone is a brother, sister, mother, or father. In ancient times, until the Industrial Revolution, the home was multigenerational and full of extended members. This example of family is the model which the church has been called to emulate. Harriet Connor writes, “Natural family relationships provide the model for relationships within the family of God. When Jesus announced that ‘whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother’ (Matthew 12:50), he was using wellknown categories of relationship” (Harriet Connor, “Nuclear Family or Church Family? Yes,” June 8, 2019, The Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/biological-family-church-family-yes/)