A few months ago I met a woman who was new to my city. We met at a popular play place for our kids and talked about the transition to a new town. While I moved here before I had kids, I know what it’s like to be newer to a city with small children. My roots aren’t here, so I’ve had to put down roots. In the absence of biological family, I’ve had to find family elsewhere – primarily in my local church.
Made for Relationships
Community is important. We were made to be in relationship. We were made to lean on each other’s help. And in a mother’s at-home work, while we don’t have co-workers to depend on, we still have a deep need for other people. This is why we see such an abundance of groups for moms all over our cities and neighborhoods. We were never made to work alone.
There’s a reason the Bible often uses the language of the family when talking about the people of God. We have been adopted into his family through Christ (Ephesians 1:5). We are awaiting a future home with him (Ephesians 2:19; Philippians 3:20). The home here on earth is a microcosm of the heavenly reality that awaits us—
But so is the church.
Made for God’s Family
Our individual families are pointing toward the family of God. So while not everyone has a mom who can help her when her baby is born, or a dad who can show her how to use power tools, the church is full of mothers and fathers who can provide this community and collaboration, and also take it to the next level.
We hear a lot about Titus 2 and how it applies to ministering to women, often in the context of a discipleship relationship between older women and younger women. This is good and right. But this passage of Scripture is also about living in community with others:
But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and sub- missive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. (Titus 2:1–5)
Paul tells Titus that the older women are to teach good things to the younger women, so God’s Word is honored among them. Included in the list of good things is how to love the people in our homes so God’s Word is honored there.
Made for Christ-Shaped Community
Older women know a thing or two about how to love our nearest neighbors. They have something that younger women don’t have—perspective, which is vital to the mom who can’t see beyond the dirty countertops, the fussy baby, or the rebellious teenager. They continue the chain of help and discipleship that was started for them years before, and they do it all within the context of a local body of believers who gathers together to worship Christ and spread his name to a watching world.
Community done among women commends the gospel to a world that breathes isolation and autonomy. I like to call it “Christ-shaped community in the home.” This is taking your heart-craving of community in your work and connecting you with mentors and teachers who have walked your path before.
Made for God’s Purpose
But this Christ-shaped community is not just about getting more help in your work. It’s pointing you toward the purpose of your work. When you gather for worship, you gather with your true family. When you work alongside them in your work, you are putting feet on the preached Word.
The early church knew this well. They gathered in homes for their worship gatherings (Acts 16:13–15, 40). They met the needs of the apostles and fellow Christians (2 Corinthians 9:11–13). They bonded together over suffering and the plundering of their property (Hebrews 10:34). They knew what all their work was pointing toward—our future home.
Moms, while groups outside the church are helpful and have their place, you will only be given a vision beyond the mundane realities of life within the local church. There, you will be given eyes to see the God who has given you your good work to do for the good of the world.
[This article is adapted from Glory in the Ordinary: Why Your Work in the Home Matters to God. Photo Credit: Lightstock]
