God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in an exclusive covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church, and to provide for the man and woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel for sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

The husband and wife are equal in personhood and worth before God, since both are created in God’s image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.

In a marriage lived according to these truths, the love between husband and wife will show itself in listening to each other’s viewpoints, valuing each other’s gifts, wisdom, and desires, honoring one another in public and private, and always seeking to bring benefit, not harm, to one another.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.

Our desire as a church is to support families in the countercultural call God has upon them.  We recognize that there are many who do not presently fit this description, including singles and single parents, whose current circumstances are often not of their own choosing.  Our desire to serve and support is no less for those in such seasons, and we seek to do all we can to help them know God’s care and call both in their situation today and as God’s plan for them continues to unfold.

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