The Call to Fathering & Mothering in the Church
- Michael Sitko
In the quiet corners of creation, a mother bird exemplifies divine mystery. She does not merely drop worms into gaping beaks; she consumes, digests, and regurgitates nourishment tailored for fragile frames. Her crop becomes a crucible where seeds and insects are broken down into life-giving pap. So it is meand to be in the kingdom family: “Like a mother bird feeds its babies and regurgitates the food that it feeds on, the spiritual father and mother in raising up sons and daughters does likewise. The things that a father feeds upon becomes the things that feed their spiritual sons and daughters.”
This is no crude metaphor but a sanctified economy. The spiritual parents private devotions are not luxurious indulgences; they are the mastication chamber of the Kingdom. What enters the secret place emerges transformed—revelation softened into teachability, correction sweetened into edification, prophetic fire cooled into sustaining warmth.
The Principle of Proportional Expectation
The Spirit who inspired Luke also inspired the mother bird: “To whom much is given much is expected” (Luke 12:48). The Greek pollòs carries both quantity and weight—much in measure, much in responsibility. The father who receives rivers of revelation bears the burden of distribution. Hoarding becomes spiritual obesity; release becomes multiplication.
Paul understood this viscerally. In 1 Corinthians 4:15 he declares, “Though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers.” The word paidagōgous (guardians) denoted slave-tutors who marched children to school but never fed them soul-food. Fathers, however, regurgitate. They chew the bitter root of suffering until it yields honey for the household.
Jesus: The Pattern Son Who Became the Pattern Father
“Jesus modelled in his ministry, a continual feeding upon the presence of God, his Father in the secret place.” Consider the rhythm of the Gospels:
Mark 1:35 – “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
Luke 5:16 – “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
Matthew 14:23 – “After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.”
These were not devotional ornaments but digestive sessions. In the wilderness of Judea, He fed on “every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). The manna of angelic ministry (Mark 1:13) was real, but the true sustenance was dialogue with the Father. When He returned to the Twelve, His mouth became a fountain:
“The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life” (John 6:63).
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
“But whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never become thirsty again.” (John 4:13).
The disciples tasted regurgitated glory. At Caesarea Philippi, Peter’s confession—“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16)—was not clever deduction but predigested revelation straight from the Father’s mouth through the Son’s ministry (v. 17).
The Mechanics of Spiritual Regurgitation
Intake – A father & mother must eat what is substantial. “Your words were found, and I ate them” (Jeremiah 15:16). This includes Scripture, but also the living rhēma spoken in the secret place.
Digestion – Raw truth can choke infants. Paul fed the Corinthians milk because they were not ready for solid food (1 Corinthians 3:2). Digestion requires humility: “Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?” (2 Corinthians 11:29).
Regurgitation – The transformed word emerges contextualized. Timothy received “the pattern of sound words” (2 Timothy 1:13) not as a textbook but as a father’s heartbeat. The Greek hypotypōsis means an outline sketch—living doctrine drawn in real time.
The Dangers of Malnourished Ministry
When leaders feed on husks, their offspring starve. Consider Eli’s sons: “They treated the offering of the LORD with contempt” (1 Samuel 2:17). The father-priest failed to digest holiness; his children devoured corruption. Conversely, when fathers feast on approval or ambition, they vomit poison. “Their god is their stomach” (Philippians 3:19).
Cultivating the Secret Place
“He cultivated a time together alone with God where he fed on the goodness of God, he fed on the heavenly manna.” Practical disciplines:
Fixed Hours – Like Daniel’s three daily prayers (Daniel 6:10), structure ensures ingestion.
Scripture Saturation – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16).
Silence and Solitude – “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). The Hebrew rapa* means to let go—release the need to produce, receive the right to be filled.
Journaling Revelation – Habakkuk was commanded, “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets” (Habakkuk 2:2). The ink becomes crop storage for future feeding.
The Corporate Regurgitation
The process scales. The seventy-two return “with joy” (Luke 10:17); Jesus responds, “I saw Satan fall like lightning”—sharing His private vision. The Emmaus disciples recognize Him “in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24:35)—a Eucharistic echo of regurgitated presence.
The Health Outcomes
“That brought health, healing and sustenance to the disciples helping to build them in their apostolic faith.”
Health – “A heart at peace gives life to the body” (Proverbs 14:30). Regurgitated peace produces emotional stability.
Healing – Peter’s shadow (Acts 5:15) carried the residue of upper-room encounters.
Sustenance – The Ephesian elders received Paul’s “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) as farewell manna.
Apostolic Faith – “Faith comes by hearing” (Romans 10:17), but only when the preacher has first heard in the secret place.
A Modern Application: The Digital Nest
Today’s spiritual leaders livestream, podcast, and tweet. The temptation is to bypass digestion for dissemination. Yet the principle holds: what fills the hidden hours determines the digital output. A 3 a.m. prayer burden becomes a 10 a.m. post that feeds thousands. The algorithm cannot regurgitate what the Spirit has not pre-digested.
The Final Exhortation
Fathers & Mothers, return to the nest of solitude. Let the Father place heavenly manna in your beak. Chew slowly. When you descend to your fledglings, let them taste “the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age” (Hebrews 6:5). For in the divine economy, your private feast becomes their public formation, and your secret place becomes their sending place.
“Freely you have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:8)—not as parrots repeating seed, but as eagles regurgitating meat for eagles-in-training. The Kingdom advances one well-digested revelation at a time.