Family Salvation

Definition and Meaning

Family salvation refers to unbelieving family members coming to faith in Jesus Christ and attaining salvation, or to the practice of praying and evangelizing in the hope that this will happen. In Korean churches the term is also widely used in everyday speech to mean "the whole family coming to attend church together."

Most denominations do not hold that one person's faith automatically guarantees the salvation of his or her family. They teach that each family member must personally respond in faith. Scripture nevertheless contains passages that treat the family as a unit, and denominations differ in how they interpret these texts.

Biblical and Historical Background

The most frequently cited verse is Acts 16:31: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." These words were spoken by Paul and Silas to the Philippian jailer. According to the passage that follows, Paul preached the word to those in the jailer's household, and after the whole household was baptized, they rejoiced together, having believed in God (Acts 16:30–34).

The New Testament records several other instances in which an entire household believed or was baptized:

• The household of Cornelius: Acts 11:14
• The household of Lydia: Acts 16:15
• The household of Crispus: Acts 18:8
• The household of Stephanas: 1 Corinthians 1:16

Paul also wrote that an unbelieving spouse is "sanctified" by the believing spouse (1 Corinthians 7:12–16).

These passages also figure prominently in the infant baptism debate. Reformed traditions such as Presbyterianism, following covenant theology, hold that God's promise is given both to believers and to their children (Acts 2:39). They cite the accounts of whole households being baptized as one of the grounds for infant baptism. Baptists, by contrast, maintain that there is no explicit record that these "whole households" included young children. Noting that in these passages people heard the word and believed before being baptized, they emphasize each person's individual profession of faith.

Practice in Korean Churches

In Korean churches, family salvation is one of the most common prayer requests.

• During early morning prayer meetings and times of intercessory prayer, believers pray by name for unbelieving parents, spouses, and children.
• Some undertake commitment prayer, praying for a set period of time.
• Many churches ask members to list family members first when choosing prospective converts (taesinja) to evangelize.
• Inviting family members to evangelistic events such as All-Out Evangelism Sunday is also common.

In households where only some family members attend church, conflict sometimes arises over ancestral rites performed on traditional holidays. Many Protestant families have customarily held memorial services in place of ancestral rites (ancestral rites and memorial services).

The emphasis varies by denomination. Presbyterians regard the children of believing parents as belonging to the covenant community and place great importance on infant baptism and on faith formation in the home. Methodists practice infant baptism but, in keeping with Wesleyan theology, place importance on conversion, in which each person personally responds to grace, and on confirmation. Baptists hold that even within a family, each person must profess faith before receiving baptism by immersion.