How does reformation happen in the family?

David Eddy explains in this video the main way that reformation occurs in a family is through repentance. There is no greater beginning point than the repentance of the father. When the father really desires to follow the Lord, there is a natural outflow of change that will occur within the family. 

For instance, when the president of a nation goes in a wrong direction, the country will also go in the wrong direction. When fathers want to lead because they love the Lord and they want to live their lives in a way that would please God, that’s when you see change happen. 

Ephesians 6:4 (NKJV) - "And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."

I would say the main thing is repentance. In my experience, there is no greater beginning point than the repentance of the Father. Now I've seen it work all different ways where the kids really get their heart right and bring Reformation to the family. I've seen the wife that basically is bearing the load because the husband is not interested in spiritual things trying to bring reformation to the family but the when the Father really desires to follow the Lord, I believe that there is a natural outflow, based on the headship principles that you see in scripture, there's a natural outflow of the change. And you know, I would liken it to, like in our country, when the president is going in a wrong direction, the country will go in the wrong direction.

And you can say, well, the country went in the wrong direction. That's why you get a president that's going in the wrong direction. But boy, when the person at the top is going the wrong direction, it's downhill into depravity. Where the person at the top is going in a Godward direction, some will go the wrong direction, but the benefit of having the leader going the right direction is just huge. And so I really think that that's a key to having Reformation in the Christian families is to have fathers that don't just say, I go to church because I'm a Christian, fathers that say, I follow the Lord because I love the Lord and I want everything in my life under my sphere of influence to be pleasing to the Lord.

Then you really see changes happen.