Gesinsbediening as 'n geïntegreerde deel van die opbou van die gemeente

English: The congregation of the Lord Jesus must be raised to spiritual maturity. The rationale of this study is that building-up the congregation, amongst others, is possible when families are being built up. Ministering to families is therefore an integral part of the total building-up process of the congregation - a ministering to, by and for families. It is, however, necessary that ministering to families in the congregation should take place on a continuous and consistent basis. The covenant and predestination were taken as base-theory and premise of this study. The covenant, of God's own devising, are carried by and within families through to generation after generation. The predestination in Christ, set as basis to the covenant, are therefore also realised in and through the covenant. A further premise is that the ministering to families and the resultant building-up of congregations must be directed towards the Kingdom of God. From this theological base the building-up of congregations was discussed. Particular attention was also given to the way that God, through His Spirit, involve the faithful and the families of the covenant, as contributors to the building-up of the congregation. Genesis 1 - 3 in particular illuminated the Scriptural basis for marriage and families. Marriage is an indivisible part of the family; therefore marriage and marital-relationships, as well as other forms of relationship, such as co-habitation, were also discussed. However in this study, the searchlight is focused firmly on the family. The structuring of families, and the development of various family structures, such as the nucleus family, were historically sketched up until the present, our own time, which is typified as post modernistic. The present state of the family and the sense of the concept of what family means was also discussed. The internal workings of the family as well as family problematic issues were appeared in the discussed themes, which included intimacy, the I-generation, prestige, gender roles, conflicts, divorce, remarriage etc. The family as a social unit as well as a system were dealt with and this concept opened up certain other perspectives. In the discussion it was clearly indicated that families have their own stories and spirituality. This illuminated some aspects of the concept of family unity and it's functioning in order for families to reach understanding of this themselves. The themes dealing with the value and function of the family clearly illustrated the importance of the family in society. A theological definition for ministering to families could therefore be formulated - a most important facet of this study. Regarding the theme of the study-subject it was important to indicate the relationship between the building-up of the congregation and the ministering to families. Eleven issues were discussed. The empirical study regarding ministering to families done in the Western Transvaal amongst ministers, were discussed and valuable results about the state of family ministering was gathered. As a result, with reference to the total study, a practical theory for family ministering could be formulated and a method of how it can be implemented in the congregations was proposed. This discussion was held with the viewpoint that family ministering has a pro-active, active and reactive focus. The discussion was ended with ten assessments and ten recommendations made.