Family Sunday

Definition and Meaning

Family Sunday is a Sunday on which churches, regarding the family as a community established by God, reflect on its meaning, worship together as families, and pray for households. It is not a traditional feast of the liturgical year (the system of seasons by which the church follows the life of Christ over the course of a year). Like Children's Sunday, it is one of the commemorative Sundays that Korean churches have designated to honor a particular theme.

Biblical and Historical Background

Sermons and prayers on Family Sunday frequently draw on biblical passages concerning the family. Representative passages include:

• Genesis 2:20–24, which describes the beginning of marriage
• Deuteronomy 6:6–9, which instructs parents to teach God's words to their children
• Joshua 24:14–25, which contains the confession "as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD"
• Ephesians 5:21–25, Ephesians 6:4, and Colossians 3:18–19, which address the relationships between husbands and wives and between parents and children

Mother's Day is generally traced to a service honoring mothers that Anna Jarvis organized at a Methodist church in the United States in 1908. In Korea, the government designated May 8 as "Mother's Day" in 1956 and renamed it "Parents' Day" in 1973. In step with these civic observances, Korean churches have observed a Sunday devoted to the family in May, alongside Children's Sunday and Parents' Sunday. However, it has not been clearly established when the name "Family Sunday" first came into use.

The Catholic Church also has a day honoring the family. On the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas (the eight-day festal period beginning on Christmas Day), Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, honoring the household of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph of Nazareth. It differs from the Protestant Family Sunday in both date and character.

Practice in Korean Churches

The date and name of Family Sunday vary from church to church.

• Some churches observe it on the third or fourth Sunday of May, following Children's Sunday and Parents' Sunday.
• Some churches combine it with Parents' Sunday into a single Family Sunday.
• Some churches observe it as "Couples' Sunday" around May 21, Korea's Married Couples' Day.

Common features of the day include the following:

• Sunday school children and youth attend the main worship service with their parents.
• Sermons address marriage, child-rearing, and honoring one's parents.
• Prayers of blessing are offered for couples and families, and couples celebrating wedding anniversaries are recognized.
• Family worship is encouraged, and guidance materials are distributed.

In churches that emphasize the liturgical year, such as the Anglican Church of Korea, May falls within the Easter season. Such churches therefore sometimes mark the occasion by adding prayers for families to the Sunday services of Eastertide rather than setting aside a separate Sunday. In recent years, some have also argued that churches should be mindful of diverse family situations, including single-parent households, members who live alone, and couples without children.