Faith at Home – An Advent Challenge

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It is no secret that many of our congregations are facing great challenges, including membership decline, financial unviability, and shortage of pastors.

At a recent discussion with congregational representatives, we were talking about some of the practices that sustained our church during its early days in Victoria when there were also very few pastors and many small congregations, covering large areas of the state.

One of those practices was a strong commitment to personal spiritual growth through Bible reading and family devotional times.

Surveys reveal that, over time, these practices waned and very few Australian Lutherans now make this a priority. Many have reduced the practice of their faith to participation in Sunday worship and have ‘outsourced’ the Christian education of their children.

Recently I read an article about a conference of the ‘International Society for Sociology of Religion’ which spoke about the impact of secularisation (worldliness) on religious belief and practice across all religions in Australia.

One speaker reported a finding from recent research that reinforces a message our own church has often spoken, ‘the one factor which is slowing down the process of secularisation is where there is a highly successful transmission of religious faith in families… If both parents are committed and are involved in religious practices in the home, such as mealtime and bedtime prayers and in singing Christian songs in the home, that makes a difference’.

This is a timely reminder as we consider the changing face of our congregations in the face of membership decline, financial unviability, and a shortage of pastors. One thing we can do is to teach and strive for a stronger focus on the practice of the faith in the home – the word and worship of God in our homes and congregational support of family ministry.

We may be tempted, when addressing the challenges in the life of the church to focus solely on what happens on Sunday rather than on the benefits of a strong commitment to personal and family devotional practices.

It’s worth contemplating, isn’t it? The very practices of personal and family devotional times that sustained our church during its early days in Victoria (and elsewhere) when there were also few pastors and small congregations, may again prove to be the thing that sustains the church as it faces the challenges of our time.

As the church season of Advent draws near, it is a good opportunity for each of us to reassess and, if necessary, reinvigorate our own personal and family devotional practices.

Perhaps you can use some devotional material you already own, or check out the Grow Ministry resources on the LCA web page: Faith at Home Archives – Grow Ministries or order a 2024 Bible reading guide or other tracts from LLL tract mission:

My prayer for you echoes St Paul’s prayer for the Christians at Ephesus (part of this Sunday’s Bible reading), which also highlights the immense benefit of personal spiritual growth:

¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. [Ephesians 1:17-19]

Pastor Lester Priebbenow
Bishop – Victoria Tasmania District