Worship and the Faith of the Family

Abstract

The home is the most potent setting for the development of Christian characteristics. The "ecology" of Christian nurture that once existed in society - the Christian community, the school system taught by at least nominally Christian teachers, the church, the religious press, and the Sunday School, has been broken. The Seventh-day Adventist Church has maintained a Christian school system. Sabbath School and church services are strongly promoted. But the foundation - the home - needs support in the task of Christian nurture. The fact that many respondents in the Crider and Kistler study knew what the standards of the church are, but found difficulty in living by those standards, indicates that the church is functioning more as a standard setter than as an enabling institution that helps people to reach those standards. This project is an attempt to partially redress that imbalance. Its purpose is to facilitiate the establishment of worship as a regular feature of family life, which is effective in promoting Christian life-style.