Why Christian Families Must Treasure the Local Church

Author: Dave Jenkins Show: Contending for the Word Q&A Date: 2/21/2026 

Show Summary (Question)

Family life today is often busy, scattered, and stretched thin. Sports schedules, activities, and cultural pressures compete for our time and attention, and in the middle of that pressure it can be easy for families to drift from the local church—or treat it as optional.

In this episode of Contending for the Word Q&A, we answer the question: Why must Christian families not merely attend church, but treasure it?

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Key Scriptures

• Hebrews 10:24–25 — The call to gather, stir one another up, and encourage each other.
• Acts 20:28–31 — A warning that wolves will come; the church guards and protects the flock.
• 1 Timothy 3:15 — The church as a pillar and buttress of the truth.

Episode Highlights

• The church is not an event or weekend add-on—it is God’s gathered people around God’s Word.
• Families drift when church becomes optional; faith is strengthened when worship is prioritized.
• God uses the church to shape children through examples, teaching, and discipleship beyond the home.
• Healthy churches provide spiritual protection through oversight, sound doctrine, and loving correction.
• The church anchors families in truth and surrounds them with gospel-centered community.

Full Article

Our culture often pulls families in a hundred directions at once. Schedules fill up, pressures increase, and priorities shift. In that environment, the local church can start to feel like something we fit in if we have time. But the Word of God never presents the church that way. The church is not an event. It’s not a performance. It’s not a weekend add-on. It is the people of God gathered around the Word of God to worship the Son of God together in the local church.

That’s why today’s question matters: Why must families treasure the local church? Scripture is clear—your family’s relationship with Christ is strengthened or weakened by your relationship with His body. Our anchor text is Hebrews 10:24–25, which calls believers to stir one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, but encouraging one another all the more as the Day draws near. The local church is God’s chosen means for growing and sustaining His people.

Here is today’s central truth: Families must treasure the local church because God uses it to strengthen their faith, shape their character, provide spiritual protection, anchor them in the truth, and surround them with a community of grace.

1) The Local Church Strengthens a Family’s Faith

The local church provides what families cannot provide by themselves: faithful preaching, corporate worship, the Lord’s Supper, accountability, pastoral care, and shared mission. A family rooted in the weekly gathering is a family rooted in Christ.

2) The Local Church Shapes the Character of Children

Your children need godly examples—spiritual fathers and mothers in the faith, encouragement from older believers, and teaching that reinforces what you teach at home. No Christian family is meant to parent alone. God designed His church to expand the discipleship influence around them.

3) The Local Church Provides Spiritual Protection

Acts 20 warns that wolves will attack the flock. Families need sound doctrine, spiritual oversight, pastors who guard their souls, and brothers and sisters who lovingly watch over them. The church is a shelter—a place of spiritual safety.

4) The Local Church Anchors Families in Truth

In a world of confusion, lies, and shifting values, the church stands as a pillar and buttress of the truth. It preaches the whole counsel of God, teaches biblical wisdom, forms a Christian worldview, counters cultural distortions, and keeps Christ at the center.

5) The Local Church Surrounds Families with a Community of Grace

Healthy churches provide encouragement, friendship, prayer, support in trials, shared joys, shared burdens, and opportunities to serve. God designed the Christian life to be lived together. A family rooted in a faithful church is surrounded by grace-filled care.

So why must families treasure the local church? Because Christ treasures the church. Because the church strengthens their faith, shapes their children, protects their souls, anchors them in truth, and surrounds them with gospel community. Parents, hear this: when you treasure the church, your children learn to treasure Christ. If the church becomes optional, Christ will become optional.

Make the Lord’s Day the center of your week. Make worship non-negotiable. Make the church family a priority. Build your home around things that last. Your family will be strengthened, encouraged, corrected, and built up in ways that no other institution on earth can offer. Families must treasure the local church because God uses it to form their faith, shape their character, protect their souls, and anchor their lives in His truth and His people.

Takeaways / Reflection Questions

• Has your family treated the local church as central—or optional?
• What pressures or patterns most often crowd out the Lord’s Day and the gathered worship of God’s people?
• How is your church helping strengthen your faith and shape your children’s discipleship?
• In what ways do you need the protection and encouragement of biblical oversight and community?
• What would it look like to build your family calendar around worship and the life of the church?

Call to Action

If this episode helped you, please consider subscribing and sharing it with another family. Stand firm on the Word of God, cling to Christ, and love the church He purchased with His own blood.

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