If your closest mission field is your family and they haven’t received salvation, do you feel like a failure? From time to time I hear a sermon stating if anyone in your own family isn’t saved then you shouldn’t be in ministry. It is so defeating because it is such a sensitive, tender hurt on my heart. (I believe whether you are a pastor or not, that we are ALL part of the “ministry” to share Jesus.) Then I do a little reflection and realize I don’t know many Christians where every family member is a believer. So then who would be left to share the gospel if the qualifying factor is that every member of your family has to proclaim Jesus Christ as their Savior? No one is asking for your track record before you are qualified to share God’s love. I am going to call it out as false doctrine before you heap any more guilt on yourself, because I believe we are all called to share the gospel.

I would also like to remind you that Jesus’s own siblings rejected him. If Jesus was rejected by his OWN family, I think we are in pretty good company. As you know that didn’t stop Jesus from continuing to teach anyone who would listen. This is also what WE are called to do.

John 7:5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

In addition to his own siblings, his hometown also rejected him. This was a community that had watched Jesus mature and had been a part of his life for thirty years! Even without performing any miracles, if Jesus was WITHOUT SIN you would think that alone would have been enough for his community to pay attention to his teachings!

Matthew 13:54 – 58 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. ⁵⁵ “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” ⁵⁸ And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

It is also important to remember that a family member’s salvation doesn’t fall solely on YOUR shoulders. There may be many people planting seeds into that person’s life. You may be doing a lot of tilling of their heart’s soil and never see the harvest, but that doesn’t mean that you didn’t contribute to leading them to salvation. Continually sharing your faith in God with those around you may be the original “breaking ground” that eventually leads to a softened heart. This makes their soul more receptive for the next person that God places in their life to share their faith. The Bible speaks of planting seeds and being ready for the harvest, but it doesn’t say that the SAME person is BOTH planting and harvesting.

John 4:37-38 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

I have been married for 6 1/2 years and we are a blended family. I have two biological children and four step sons, all are adults or teenagers and have been exposed to the gospel. Some have questions that they are wrestling with, some are believers but aren’t living out their faith in daily decisions and others see no purpose in faith at all. I pray for all of them daily. I pray that God would shake them up and they would have an encounter with Jesus that would forever change them and lead them to walk the rest of their days in faith. There is NOTHING that is more important for me to pray about than the salvation of our children and grandchildren.

John 4:35 I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 

I used to feel like it was enough to set a good and faithful example, but I no longer believe that is enough. I feel we are put in close relationship with our family to ask the hard questions and get them to reevaluate what they believe, not in an all-knowing belittling way, but in an encouraging manner that leads them to draw closer to the Lord. This is a real struggle for a lot of us, but it truly matters to their eternal salvation. I don’t believe we are to continually preach to an individual who has told us to get lost and has requested that we not discuss God. I think we can honor them and their space and still actively share how faith is working in our OWN life. It is worth the discomfort – and when I say that, it is a reminder for me as well because it is a real challenge. Whether it is our children, grandchildren, siblings, parents, etc it is worth sharing our faith – if only in a personal way to spark further curiousity on their part.

There are people in my family that have the hardest of hearts and it is hard to imagine the circumstances that would have to transpire for them to accept salvation….but then I remember how hard my heart was and what God has done. I didn’t want ANYTHING to do with God, but God stepped in and changed EVERYTHING. God is fully capable to do so. We need to share our faith, set the example and continually pray for our family. 

Luke 10:2 The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few