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On Kingdom Families


WHEREAS, The family is the foundational unit of human society, established by the creational intent of God; and

WHEREAS, The family is rooted in God’s good gift of marriage, which the Creator defines as the lifelong union of one man and one woman (Genesis 1:26–27; Genesis 2:18–25); and
WHEREAS, Scripture affirms that such a family unit is God’s design for the nurturing of children (Deuteronomy 6:4–9; Psalm 127:1–5; Ephesians 6:1–4); and

WHEREAS, The neglect of God’s purposes for the family robs us of the joy and fulfillment that He intends for us; and

WHEREAS, The biblical model of the family increasingly is undermined by a divorce culture that sees marriage as a temporary social arrangement; and

WHEREAS, The biblical vision of the family is obscured further by current attempts to redefine the family itself and to marginalize the importance of the nuclear family; and

WHEREAS, The biblical vision of the family is eclipsed even more scandalously by marital infidelity, abandonment, and divorce within our own churches; and

WHEREAS, A disproportionately large number of children reared in evangelical churches are growing up to leave the “faith of their fathers”; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, June 17–18, 2003, renew our commitment to building Kingdom families, by the recovery of the biblical understanding of the family and the acknowledgment of the permanence and responsibilities of the marriage covenant; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we call on Southern Baptist parents to assume their responsibility as the primary protectors and instructors of their children and to devote themselves to inculcate godly disciplines in their own lives and the lives of their children; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we call on Southern Baptists to proclaim the witness of Scripture to the biblical pattern of the family and its responsibilities and permanence; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage every Southern Baptist church to be intentionally involved in strengthening marriages and families through such activities as faithful preaching and teaching, biblical premarital and family counseling, and restorative church discipline; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage Southern Baptist churches to pursue intentional ministry to single parent families as a non-negotiable biblical mandate, affirming that God Himself is the Father to the fatherless (Psalm 68:5) and that the church is God’s spiritual family (Matthew 12:47–50); and be it finally

RESOLVED, That we call on our churches to model before our culture family structures that reflect the biblical vision of the Kingdom of God and the love of Christ for His church.