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Cross-Centered Homes (C2H) is a ministry initiative birthed out of several years of research and personal concern for the homes represented in Tar Landing Baptist Church in Jacksonville, NC (www.tarlandingbaptist.org). 

Like most local churches, our pastors and Bible teachers understand what the word of God says our homes should be like, but there seemed to be a disconnect when we took honest assessments of what our homes were like in actuality.  We know what ought to be, but we are also dealing with what is every day. 

After a year of reading books, websites, blogs, attending conferences / training events, and talking to couples in our church, God began to produce a clearer picture of how to bridge the gap between what ought to be and what is.  A few things became obvious, including:

♦Pastors / teachers had to place heavy emphasis on the Bible's teachings on the home.

 ♦Pastors / teachers had to be bold enough to make specific applications of those biblical texts to our current culture (much more on this in future posts).

♦Pastors / teachers had to get serious about equipping spouses and parents with tools to help them obey the commands of our God.   

The more we looked into these matters, the more we became convinced that almost nothing else we do as a local church will make much of an impact if we do not first reclaim our homes for Christ.  It has been researched and proven so many times that it should go without saying - the home is the foundation of society.  Churches are only as strong as their homes.  The plethora of societal ills we see around us every day are nearly all attributable to the breakdown or redfinition of the American home.  Again, I could cite sources, but I imagine you are as familiar with them as I. 

The hymn writer / pastor George Atkins voiced our lament and prayer well in his song Brethern We Have Met to Worship:

See our fathers, and our mothers, and our children sinking down?  Brethern, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.                                          

C2H is really a heart cry to God to use us to help this local church produce the strongest, most biblically healthy homes in our city and county.  We pray this for every Bible believing church.  And, here at Tar Landing, or where ever the Lord may place me in the future, we intend to put our money / time / effort where our mouth is in this foundational matter of Christ-Centered Homes.

"If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Ps 11:3)

by Keith McWhorter