Home is the Center of Ministry

When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11:3

By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. Proverbs 23:3-4.

When Gert and I were newly married, we found 15 acres of undeveloped land in central Missouri and decided to build a house. We were excited, enthusiastic, and dreaming about the beautiful cedar beams from our own land we’d support the house with.

I was pregnant with our second child, and since we shared one small car, I’d often walk out to the property with Chloe in our jogging stroller and bring Gert coffee in the hot, humid afternoon sun. I had to walk down a windy road, up a steep dirt road, down another bumpy gravel road, and then up again to get to our property situated on a bluff surrounded by cedar trees.

It was fun to see the progress. However, it was when we were done clearing the land, drilling the well and septic, that we marked out the foundation of the house and realized the enormity of the task ahead of us, and how little we knew about construction.

We had a close friend, our pastor and neighbor, who worked side-by-side with Gert, showing him what to do. But for some reason, we missed the part about how to dig the foundation.

Gert and I had shovels, pick-axes, and wheelbarrows, and started to dig the trenches by hand. We discovered our house was to be built literally on top of solid rock as the rocks got bigger and more impossible to remove. It was exhausting manual labor with very slow progress. It wasn’t long before Gert said heck with this, I’m renting a backhoe!

With the proper equipment, we dug our foundation with ease. It took just a few hours, and we laughed at our rookie mistake. Soon we poured the cement and the house, with a rock solid foundation, started to take shape.

During those early years of marriage, babies, and building a house, God helped us to build the foundation of our family. It was very hard work, but we were filled with hopefulness and joy and ready to make the sacrifices necessary to create a lasting spiritual house, that could withstand the fiery tests and challenges of the Christian Life.

We surrounded ourselves with godly families, whose lives were bearing fruit. I determined in my heart that if I wanted my family to grow into something beautiful and praise-worthy, I needed to make a decision to prioritize my children. For me, this looked like making the decision to homeschool and take a backseat to public ministry. This was a sacrifice, and meant our church and mission organization weren’t getting two full time workers, but rather one. It was not a decision that was always met with approval, however we knew it was the right thing to do.

We received a wedding gift with this verse prominently displayed: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does, prospers” Psalm 1:3.

The principle I learned is this: Leadership flows out of who you are. Home is the center of your ministry. You must build your spiritual house on a solid foundation, and fortify the walls and the gates of your home. It takes a full commitment, and the decision to rightly prioritize your ministry and family. Here’s where many christian workers make a devastating mistake.

It's easy to put God first; we all know that. But what often happens is we tend to prioritize ministry second, and then family third. This sounds good, right? Perhaps even like the sacrificial thing to do.

However our family is our first and highest mission field. As Mother Theresa famously said, “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.”

When you walk through the doors of your home, that is where your real ministry begins. If you want to build a foundation that will last, family must come first.

The temptation for Christian leaders to sacrifice family on the altar of ministry is great. It is easy to be swept away with the tremendous need on the mission field, with the unrelenting demands of ministry, by the scouring cries of poverty, abuse, neglect, and sin. For driven, compassionate, compelled and convicted missionaries who see the harvest field, and know that the laborers are few, the decision to put family first is sometimes a daily battle.

The Bible does not lay out a step-by-step framework for priorities. But as we read and study scripture, we see the profound responsibility God mandates to parents:

"These are the commands, decrees, and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children, and their children after them may fear the Lord your God. These commandments that I give to you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,” Deut. 6: 1-2, 6-9.

It takes large quantities of time to fulfill this mandate. The modern idea that quality time somehow trumps quantity of time is a fallacy. Our first calling is for us and our house to serve the Lord. After this comes the mandate to take dominion, subdue the earth, build, plant, grow, and take the good land that God promised to his children. Our call as missionaries falls under this category, to be a blessing to the nations, and take the gospel to the ends of the earth and to expand His Kingdom. In order to do this as a family, it takes intentionality, sacrifice, and a willingness to resist the pressure, demands, and unquenchable needs of ministry to give all. As a result of following divine order, your life will bear much fruit.

Finally, I can testify that over the years I have been surprised with the joy of ministry inside my home through hospitality, discipleship, and service that I believe has been our most fruitful work. God is so good to fulfill the desires of our hearts and we lay them down before his throne of grace.

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder,” 1 Corinthians 3:10

About the author: Molly has been in the ministry since 1996 where she and her husband Gert have served around the world as missionaries and pastors in the United States, South Africa, and Nepal. Their hearts are for the unreached peoples of the world, specifically in Central Asia, and to disciple believers to walk in purity and freedom.

In 2020 they partnered with Sexuality Unmasked, a ministry focused but on healing, deliverance, and restoration from the negative effects of sexual sin: abortion, abuse, molestation, adultery, immorality, pornography, rape, sexual confusion, and sex trafficking.

Sexuality Unmasked's powerful message exposes the lies in culture that falsely define the sexual roles of men and women and helps establish them in their true God-given identities. This movement has released healing to thousands of people worldwide through conferences, churches, and discipleship schools.

They have six children, and carry a message of life flowing from home where they home-educate, create + strategize business innovation, and lead a home church. They currently serve with All Nations and are seconded to Sexuality Unmasked based out of Spokane, WA.

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