19th March 2025 question-box

OK, so today’s question is:

Does the creation mandate of “being fruitful and multiplying” mean that Christians today should have kids?

Good question, and we touched on this in last week’s sermon, but let me answer it directly…

Although, before I get to the question if should we have kids, let me just point out that Christians do have kids. It’s interesting, the percentage of Australians claiming to be Christians has halved since 1970, and so has the birth rate. In fact the total population in more secular parts of the world, like China and Europe is shrinking, and is predicted to go on shrinking for the next 50 years or more. Whereas in places like Africa, where Christianity is strong, the population is predicted to triple by 2050. Overall: with God, children are more likely to be viewed as a blessing, and without God children are more likely to be viewed as an inconvenience.

But the question is should we have kids? (and let’s recognise not everyone can, but should we try…?)

It’s interesting, in the Old Testament, singleness was only ever a bad thing. In the Old Testament, if a couple was unable to have kids, it was always a shame. Whereas in the New Testament, there is a new place for singleness: Jesus was single, he didn’t have kids. And same for Paul.

It’s interesting, Paul described people who he shared the gospel with, people who became Christians under his ministry, he described them like his kids. He calls Timothy “my true son” (1 Timothy 1:2). Timothy’s not his biological son; he was his son in the faith. See I think what’s different in the New Testament is that as Christians we have two good areas to pursue in life:

• One is marriage, family and children – bottom row – these are the blessings of creation.
• Another good thing, you could say an even better thing, is the gospel mission – seeking to see people born again into the new creation.

And at different times in your life, God may call you to put more of your energy into one or the other of these areas of serving God.

But would it be right to avoid having kids? Well it depends why. See, you might choose not to not have kids, because you want to pursue a life of wealth and pleasure. Or you might choose not to have kids, might be because you want to pursue a life of gospel fruitfulness. So in the end it’s really a heart issue, and you have to work through your motivations with God.

Thanks for the question, this is a topic I hope to come back to in a bit more detail in 2025, because I’d like to do a sermon series on love, sex, marriage and singleness.

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This question was originally answered in our evening service on 17 November 2024. I’ll aim to post another question and answer next week. You can read about how our question box works here.