Norris Family News

A Call for an Agrarian Family Mindset

In the past few years I have read at least two children's books that told stories about idealized agrarian families in the 18th or early 19th centuries. With simple text and beautiful, homey illustrations rendered in earthy and harvest colors, the books painted idyllic pictures of family life. The family members, young and old, had their part on the family farm and worked hard together. In the evenings, especially during the winter months, they would spend their time together around the fire making products to sell in the market the following spring. They made quilts, straw brooms, soaps, and more. While working, mother or father or an older child would read the bible or a story book or play music. In the spring, father would take the older children to the market where they would work together selling their wares. They would then buy supplies and perhaps some special gifts for mother and their siblings with the family earnings. The families were happy, healthy, and strong due to their time spent together in activities that supported the family, producing children who were selfless leaders and producers.

While many in our society reject this picture as mythical and unrealistic, I believe it is in line with the biblical view of the family. Certainly much of the picture above is biblical simply because it reflects the agrarian social order that has been the norm in human history until the industrial revolution. But I believe the bible goes further to emphasize and prefer this picture. For example, Deuteronomy 11:19 tells us that we should teach our sons the things of God when we sit in our houses, walk along the road, and when we lie down and rise up. The implication is that the family spends quite a bit of time together. Contrast this with the 21st century, Western family that, between their separate work and school commitments followed by their very individualistic pursuits at home (child with headphones and Game Boy, dad watching sports, mom talking to friends on the phone, eating meals separately or with the television on, etc.), spends mere minutes per day actually talking.

I know many Godly families, ours included, that strive to make the most of their time together in the midst of our Western, 40-hour-work-week lifestyles. We eat dinner together faithfully with the emphasis on conversation. We have shunned or eliminated television in our homes and engage in family devotions, book reading, crafts, and games in order to have our time together be meaningful, relational, and fun. In short, we strive to have the proverbial “quality time.“ But is this enough? Is this God's best for our family? Further, are we making the most of the freedom and opportunity we have? It's not like we're living under a communist regime and our vocations and schedules are dictated beyond our control. No indeed, our vocations and schedules are dictated by our willing conformance to the materialist Western culture, and by our hearts being turned away from our children to various degrees.

Consider the following verses (all from the NASB):

I see two basic messages in Psalm 127; 1. the Lord will provide for our needs and safety, 2. children are a gift and a blessing from the Lord. The fact that these two messages are combined says to me, “Don't fret so much about your needs and safety or pursue wealth so as to make your children a lower priority.“ Proverbs 23:4-5 speaks about the vain pursuit of wealth. Matthew 6:19-21 tell us what real wealth is. But the ideas in these passages also need to be balanced with 1 Timothy 5:8 which makes it clear that we must provide for our families. Work is an activity that was part of God's original intention for Man. Genesis 2:5 tells of the primordial earth that lacked a man to cultivate the ground...long before the curses of the Fall. The Scripture places work in its proper place in the priorities of life. It is a necessity in order to provide for one's family and it is part of God's original design, which is altogether good. God may even bless our work with great prosperity. But prosperity is not a worthy goal in itself. Strong, biblical family relationships are not only worthy goals to pursue, but they are the stuff of which heavenly treasure is made. In light of all this, how can we alter our thinking and turn our hearts toward our children? How can we provide for our families without spending the majority of our waking hours apart from those who most need and desire our fellowship? How can we merge the two competing activities? These thoughts and questions bring me back to the agrarian family picture. The agrarian lifestyle, or at least our idyllic picture of it, seemed to inherently provide a way to fulfill Deuteronomy 11:19, to develop deep, lasting relationships with our children, all while providing the family's material needs. What are the key qualities of the agrarian life? I see them as time spent together and family work ethic.

In the idyllic, 17th century agrarian model, the family lived, worked, schooled, and worshiped together. The key difference between this kind of “quantity time” and today's “quality time” is that the family was together in both good and bad times. They saw each other at their best and their worst and learned to relate to one another realistically. The children got to see their parents deal with difficulty and failure as well as reap the rewards of hard work and wise decisions. In the times of family worship, the Word of God spoke of the saving grace of Jesus Christ and its transforming power in the hearts of men. Parents were able to apply the Word of God immediately to a situation or to use an everyday occurrence as a teaching opportunity with both spiritual and practical applications. During the day over difficult work or unfair dealings in the market or with cranky babies, the children got to see if the gospel was just words or whether it was truly the Power of God in the hearts of their parents, and not on a few occasions but day after day, every day.

The agrarian life fostered a family work ethic. The family economy was open for all to see and the children were an integral part of it, giving them senses of purpose and responsibility. The children's work role went beyond the day to day chores of keeping house. According to the ability of each child, his work truly contributed to the family bottom line. The children learned the varied skills of farm life and practical handicrafts, and how to work well on a team and as individuals. At a relatively young age, the children became familiar with the risks and rewards of entrepreneurialism and self sufficiency. They learned to find fulfillment and even entertainment in productive endeavors, and came to know the joy that God intended in hard work.

There are many people in our industrial-age culture that have come to similar conclusions about the familial advantages of the agrarian lifestyle. The Amish have valued both the mindset and the form of the agrarian lifestyle for almost three hundred years in America. We often hear of conservative and/or homeschool families that move to rural Montana or Idaho to live off the land. While both of these lifestyles achieve the relational and functional aspects of the agrarian lifestyle, they are isolated from society. The Amish isolate themselves from the larger culture but still have a sense of community, while the latter group is completely isolated from the culture, from extended family, and even from the greater Body of Christ.

While God has called us to be separate from the world, I don't believe that He has called us to be isolationists. Romans 12:2 tells us not to be conformed to this world. James 4:4 tells us that we are enemies of God if we are friends of the world. 1 John 2:15 tells us not to love the world or its things and if we do, the love of the Father is not in us. So clearly we are to be separate and different from the culture and the lusts of the world. However, Jesus told us in Matthew 5:13-16 that we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a lamp on a lampstand, and that we are to let our light shine before men to the glory of our Heavenly Father. How can we accomplish this if our lifestyle physically separates us from the lost souls in the world?

What I am seeking is a way to adapt the relational aspects of the agrarian lifestyle to my family living in a postmodern, post-industrial society. I am seeking a biblical, agrarian mindset that will cause me to prioritize my family and our collective luminance for Christ above any material gain or goal that the Western culture can offer. I believe that the two key qualities of the agrarian lifestyle can be achieved in our society today by homeschooling and by finding a way to make a living working from home, ideally in an occupation in which the children can participate.

This article was not written to set out some bold, new idea, but more to articulate my family's thinking process and the path along which God has been leading us, which has caused us to make some bold career choices. There are several, publicly-known homeschool families that have adopted the agrarian mindset in our present day society. Their writing and public speaking has helped our family immensely to rearrange our priorities with heaven in mind. If this article has spoken to you, I encourage you to check out the materials available from the following, very small sampling of like-minded families:

• The Boyer Family - Rick Boyer has written several encouraging books such as The Hands-On Dad and had a drywall business in which his children were involved. See www.TheLearningParent.com
• The Bower Family - The Bowers have done many things together including a window-washing business. Their family ministry and business is to encourage fathers to become heroes in the eyes of their children! See www.HeroDads.com
• The Maxwell Family - Steve and Teri Maxwell have a fantastic ministry of support, teaching, and encouraging in the areas of homeschooling and child training. Steve has worked at home since 1997 and now has a family computer consulting business. Their website is www.Titus2.com

--Thaine