10/02/2019
1. FAMILY MINISTRY = CHILDREN’S MINISTRY: Unfortunately, when church leaders hear “family ministry” they typically limit their thinking to “children’s ministry.” As a result, very few develop high-level strategies to drive marriage or parenting intentionality.
2. MARRIAGE MINISTRY = ANNUAL EVENT: Similarly, when church leaders hear “marriage ministry” they tend to think of an annual retreat or event rather than an ongoing strategy for building God-honoring marriages.
3. BEST CASE = SECONDARY PRIORITY: Most church leaders acknowledge that family-oriented ministry is a second or third tier priority in their church.
4. COMMONLY = OFF RADAR SCREEN: Many churches don’t even have a value statement about the home, so programs driving family intentionality are completely off the strategic radar screen for the senior leaders.
5. NEEDED = INTEGRATED STRATEGIES: While many churches have created isolated programs for families – often in the form of life-stage classes that separate rather than integrate family faith experiences – what we need are integrated strategies that will create an ongoing culture of intentional families.