History is complicated. If you ever trace your family history, you’re going to find a few skeletons in the closet. And everybody in your family is going to have a different theory about how they got there.
I’m not asking anyone to jump into the genealogy deep end. You might wake up in a daze a decade from now with a filing cabinet full of research and more questions than answers. With that said, I do think it’s healthy to explore where we came from, whatever that may look like for you. It could be your family of birth, your culture of origin—all of it brings context to what and who shaped you and got you to this point. Praise God, our identity in Christ tops them all.
As a kid, I was surrounded by relatives who loved to tell stories and didn’t mind (too much) that I wrote them down. Recently, I combed back through my notes, searching specifically for details about the faith of my ancestors. I knew that many generations of my family had attended Christian churches, but I wanted to see if my family tree had borne spiritual fruit.
Here’s what I found.
My great aunt’s obituary mentioned that she spent her retirement regularly visiting a list of homebound people in her community—at one point, about 125 people. She was a gift-giver who looked after the elderly like they were her own family. (And she rarely talked about any of this.)
“My great aunt’s obituary mentioned that she spent her retirement regularly visiting a list of homebound people in her community.”
My ancestors, Thomas and Susan, planted a church in the early 1870s that still exists today. One of the early church members, decades after Thomas’ death, said his “prayers of sincerity” were of “special recollection.” Here’s an excerpt from Susan’s obituary: “The lives of grandfather and grandmother were certainly beautiful examples to children and we grandchildren or anyone that knew them, because God’s service was uppermost in their minds, above all things and at all times.”
A church history mentioned that Thomas’s son and daughter-in-law, Henry and Clara, “expounded Christianity in their home visitations to the sick members and welcomed newcomers with open minds.”
I don’t know many details about my great-great-great grandfather Rufus’ life, but his short obituary packs a punch: “Brother Little was a grand good man, though very quiet and unostentatious; he made his presence felt wherever he was. Not only does his family feel the loss, but the entire community, and the church of which he was a pillar. We shall miss him.”
I’m forever grateful for ancestors like these who passed the torch of faith to the next generation. (And who stood their ground when plenty of my relatives were walking in darkness.) If you grew up in the body of Christ, I hope you’ll take some time to consider the ways your family or other believers influenced and encouraged you on that journey. If you’re the first in your family to come to Jesus, just think of the impact your faith can make on generations to come!
“If you grew up in the body of Christ, I hope you’ll take some time to consider the ways your family or other believers influenced and encouraged you on that journey.”
Unfortunately, I think we all realize just how weak these generational chains can be. It only takes one or two generations to change the trajectory of an entire family, for better or worse.
My pastor recently preached on the idea of generational sin. The idea is that families can struggle with similar sins, potentially because of modeled behavior but also potentially due to spiritual warfare. He emphasized the importance of not just identifying these sins, but going to war against them, standing in the breach and blocking another generation from experiencing the struggle, pain, and trauma these sins cast in their wake.
The brief testimonies I shared were the spiritual fruit of broken and hurting men and women who lived lives of surrender and repentance, sacrifice, and confession. They fought to abide in and grow their relationship with Christ through sickness and storms—and trust me, they endured plenty. Their families and community were eternally impacted, including me.
Friend, we can do the same.
