Covenant Families

Perhaps you feel as we do, that our families are being pulled in many different directions by the priorities of this world and the prevailing culture.

Far from being a church that chooses a bunker mentality of alienation from and extraction out of the world, we’re choosing to trust God for the power we need to live as Jesus did--as light in the world. Christ-centered homes and gospel-oriented families are critical to this approach.

As Work of Christ Church (WoCC) assembles each Sunday morning, children ages 0-6 are cared for in beautiful, clean and safe rooms. The children's ministry, known as Covenant Kids, focuses on loving the kids and introducing Jesus and his gospel--by word and deed. All Covenant Kids staff and volunteers are background checked and screened for safety. WoCC's goal is Christ-centered, gospel-oriented, safe, competent and fun ministry to children!

Children ages seven and up are encouraged to attend FirstServe with their families in the main assembly. Serving as a family is one of the ways WoCC is responding to...

Some Problems We’ve Noticed

When it comes to building Christ-centered homes and gospel-oriented families, WoCC doesn’t have all the answers, for sure! We’re seeking those answers, though, and we’re asking God to help us respond appropriately to some troubling observations we’ve made recently:

Well-meaning church ministries that become surrogates for the spiritual role of the parent
Age-appropriate ministries that tend to separate families instead of bring them together
Attitudes within youth groups that create a “this is our church and you’re not welcomed” mentality toward adults--especially parents
Pulpit preaching designed for “big church” that ignores children and families
Increasing numbers of middle school and high school students whose parents don’t come to church with them at all
Students that graduate high school and leave their faith behind

These observations point to big challenges for the families of WoCC and the families we’re called to serve, bless and love in the name of Jesus.

Big Problems--Gospel Answers

WoCC is responding to these challenges with God’s power--his gospel. We desire to see the gospel infused transformationally into every mom, dad, son and daughter. Our hope is for each person to know and sense deeply God’s love for them. This is more than an intellectual exercise. The gospel must touch the deep places of every person's heart, soul, mind and body.

When this occurs, people begin to change and families begin to change.

Within the family context, the gospel is like a wrecking ball of righteousness! When the gospel takes root in a person’s life, every relationship they have is altered...including family relationships.

This is our hope--this is what we’re desperate for--to see families changed from the inside out by the gospel of Jesus.

Our Covenant Approach

WoCC has decided not to develop ministries that pull families apart. Instead, we’re putting all our families in the hands of the gospel and we’re going to see what God will do with us.

Our approach will involve the development of covenants between people and families. These covenants will be commitments by which our people obligate themselves to others--it’s us saying what we intend to do and why we’re compelled to do it. The covenants will serve to establish guidelines for Christ-centered homes and gospel-oriented families; not a book of rules, but instead a picture of how God says our relationships and families will flourish once touched by the gospel. Further, the covenants will create accountability within the context of our own commitments--a critical key to healthy families.

In short, the covenants are our way of helping each other, equipping each other, and encouraging each other along a path to the establishment of or deepening of Christ-centered homes and gospel-oriented families. In combination with ministries tailored to individual family members as they relate to the larger family unit, the covenants will come alive and become a guiding force for discussions, teaching, modeling, forgiveness, mercy and grace.

Several of these covenants are listed below:

Marriage Covenant--being a Christ-centered and gospel-oriented husband/wife
Parental Covenant--being a Christ-centered and gospel-oriented dad/mom
Family Covenant--being a Christ-centered and gospel-oriented family member

Those Without Families

For myriad reasons, many people don’t have families that they can covenant with. Because of God’s goodness, though, he provides an answer for these within his family--the body of Christ, the church! WoCC will work to enfold all people who are going it alone; people relationally isolated from their family, people without family nearby, people with no family, people with family who aren’t interested in life with God, people whose families have given up on them.

This is God’s gracious response to the issues facing our families--Christ-centered homes, gospel-oriented families and churches that enfold those who have neither.

We ask you to join with us as we shake off the downward trajectory of the family within our culture and cling desperately to God’s perfect design and empowering Spirit that will see us through.

If you’d like more information on our covenant families approach, please don’t hesitate to contact us.