Christ-Centered Home

september 2021 Chapter Assembly topic

Specific Objectives

At the end of the session, the assembly the participants are expected to:

  1. Understand what is the difference between an ordinary house and a Christian home

  2. Recognize and enthrone Christ as the center of our home

  3. Build up a Christian home that is a domestic church, a school of discipleship, and a base for God’s Army.

Expanded Outline

I. Introduction

In this time of Pandemic most of us are staying home and working from home. Families are greatly affected by what is visible and invisible. The Christian family is struggling for survival, beset by powerful forces all around it. There is modernism, relativism, the secular and materialistic world, seeking to impose its increasing pagan values and lifestyles. Amidst all these, Christians are confused, discouraged, badly bruised. The future looks bleak. But there is hope! God is committed to defending and strengthening the family. Let’s talk about the Christian Home as inspired by the Book Families in the Holy Spirit by Brother Frank Padilla, MFC Servant General.

Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord. -Ephesians 2:21

II. A House Versus Home

What is the difference between an ordinary house and a Christian Home?

  1. Home Structure

It is the difference between a structure merely built by human hands, and a place built by the Lord and where He himself makes His residence.

  1. Home Relationship

It is difference between boarding house, where occupants merely eat and sleep, and a place where loving and intimate relationships are fostered and nurtured.

  1. Home Environment

It is the difference between a situation often caught up in strife and division, and a environment of peace and unity and order.

  1. Home for Worship

It is the difference between worship of idols of money, power, pleasure and the like, and the worship of the one true God, where the life of the family revolves around Jesus, where the Lord is the first priority.

III. A Christian Home, the Very Center for God’s Plan

A Christian family needs to live in a Christian home. It needs to build its home for God. When it does so, the home becomes an important center for God’s plan.

  1. A center for Christian family living

It is not the school, nor the parish, nor a Christian Community of families, though all these can be a big help. It is the Christian family living its life in the Christian Home that is to be the domestic church. As church, it is the place where the members pray, read and study the Scripture (a good practice is Liturgical Bible Study), undergo teaching and formation, and fellowship with one another.

  1. A Center for formation

It is the center for Christian renewal and ongoing formation. It is a school a school for discipleship. The home is basically the place where a lot of Christian growth can happen for both the parents and children. Also, the home as a school provides a framework for learning patterns of relating patterns of relating with others in the larger society. What the person learns in the home will determine to a large extent how that person will conduct himself when he is out in the world. It is the home where one learns unconditional love, self-sacrifice, how to become a person for others.

  1. A Center for evangelization

In the home will be raised men and women who love the Lord and who will want to spread His dominion. In the Home will there be a witness of love in action, a necessary element in attracting others to Jesus. The Christian home is the base from which will proceed the work of winning the world for Jesus Christ. The home, aside from being a school is also a training camp. The family members learn not just about various things but also about spiritual warfare that rages in the world today. They learn not just about visible realities but also about invisible ones. The family members realize that they are not just children of God, not just His servants and disciples, but are also soldiers in his army. Our homes are to be lights that glow in darkness of our neighborhoods.

You are the light of the world. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. - Mt 5:14a, 16

IV. Conclusion: Christ Centered Home

Thus we see that the Christian home is a domestic church, a school of discipleship, and a base for God’s Army. The Christian home is very different from other family dwelling places. The basic difference is the lordship of Jesus over the home, precisely what most other homes have rejected or are not living out. But for Christians it is different, Jesus is at the very center of their homes. He is at the very center of their lives.

Jesus said to the chief priests and the Pharisees, “Did you never read in the scripture: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” Mt 21:42a Let us not be like the Pharisees who rejected the centrality of Jesus Christ in their lives. Rather, let us embrace Jesus and enthrone him in his rightful place, recognizing him to be the cornerstone of the structure that is our home.

Reference: Families in the Holy Spirit, Frank Padilla

Group Discussion

  1. Is your home a Christ-centered home? What more can you do to make it one?

  2. How can you make other people's home a Christ-centered home?