Elias Moitinho, Ph.D., LPC-S, LMFT, BCPCC
Church leaders are aware that many families are under a tremendous amount of stress. Today’s families face significant financial challenges, a variety of mental health issues, and multiple relational conflicts.
What can a church do to help these families?
A church can have a well-organized and vibrant family ministry that supports its preaching and teaching ministry and reaches out to meet family needs. For instance, a family ministry can develop practical ways to apply biblical principles to help families deal with the above-mentioned challenges and grow spiritually, emotionally, and relationally. However, it is important to acknowledge that family ministry is not a single event or a program offered by the church.
What is family ministry?
Haynes (2009) conceptualized family ministry as a way to develop discipleship in and through families. He asks, “What if the church embraced a strategy to equip parents to be the primary faith influencers, giving them motivation, resources, training opportunities, and most importantly a clear path to walk on?” (pp. 41-42). Haynes developed the Legacy Milestones Approach to help families grow in their faith in Christ as they go through the life cycle.
In the book Perspectives on Family Ministry, Jones (2009) presents three models of family ministry:
1. In the family-integrated model, family ministry is a multigenerational approach that eliminates age-graded ministries, so that all family members worship and learn together.
2. The family-based ministry model maintains age-graded ministries, but also intentionally creates some multigenerational activities.
3. The family-equipping ministry model is one in which the age-organized ministries are present, but the church ministry emphasizes the role of parents as the primary disciple-makers of their children (pp. 42-44).
Family ministry, however, involves much more than equipping parents to disciple their children, according to Dr. Gary Oliver.
According to Hebbard (1995), family ministry involves church activities that use both educational and therapeutic efforts to strengthen families and prepare them to go through developmental crises. Educational methods include activities such as regular classes, workshops, conferences, and psychoeducational groups.
On the other hand, therapeutic methods include pastoral, lay, and professional counseling, support groups, and referrals. Therefore, family ministry is a biblically-based, comprehensive, multidimensional, and multidisciplinary ministry that seeks to minister to families through educational and interventional approaches.
Family ministry must be part of an intentional and comprehensive ministry strategy of a local church under the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Such strategy must be based on God’s will for that particular congregation, and consequently, it needs to be organized to meet the needs of the church family and community. An effective ministry takes into consideration the church’s unique context, size, leadership availability, financial resources, and community demographics among other variables.
In summary, a church’s family ministry usually has manifold purposes, including:
1. To equip families to live according to God’s plan (Gen. 1:26-31; Gen. 2:24; Deut. 6:4-7; Eph. 5:22-33; Eph. 6:1-4)
2. To strengthen family members’ relationships with God (Matt. 6:33) and to each other (Eph. 5:22-33; Eph. 6:1-4; 1 Pet 3:7)
3. To meet family-related needs due to developmental or situational crises by providing ongoing support, pastoral, lay, or professional assistance (Gal. 6:2)
4. To equip families to fulfill the Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37-40) and the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20).
So, how can Christian counselors help?
Many Christian counselors are already involved in family ministry by providing counseling services through their churches. But, besides the important job of providing counseling services, counselors can help their local church family ministries in a variety of ways whether as paid staff or volunteers. Below are some practical ways Christian counselors can help their church’s family ministry.
1. Teach classes that focus on strengthening family relationships:
Marriage ministry: Counselors can use their knowledge and training to teach couples and provide them with practical strategies for building strong marriages.
Parenting: Counselors can teach parenting classes and equip parents with effective tools to raise and discipline kids of various age groups.
Pre-marital counseling: Counselors can teach young couples pre-marital counseling classes or workshops to assist them in preparing for marriage.
Marriage enrichment workshops, conferences, or retreats: Counselors can teach couples biblical concepts and relational skills that can enrich their marriages
2. Teach psychoeducational classes: Counselors can lead workshops on topics such as depression, anxiety, grief, and stress, and other mental health issues.
3. Train lay counselors: Counselors can provide the needed training to sharpen the skills of lay counselors and provide them with knowledge on current family issues.
4. Serve as consultants: Counselors can be available to serve as a consultant to the pastor and staff members and help them understand mental health issues.
5. Organize and/or lead a small group ministry: Counselors can use their knowledge of group dynamics and personality theories to help organize a small group ministry whether they are support groups or growth groups.
6. Develop a referral list of community resources: Counselors can use their knowledge to connect church families to the resources available in the community since a church cannot meet all of the needs of its members.
7: Write blogs or articles for the church website: Counselors can write on key family-related topics and offer practical help to the families.
If you are not already involved in some way in the family ministry of your church, I encourage you to talk to your church leaders and pray about how God might have you serve. Again, this can be done as a paid staff or as a volunteer. Ultimately, helping in family ministry can be a rewarding way to serve the Lord and glorify His name.
Elias Moitinho, Ph.D., LPC-S, LMFT, BCPCC, serves as Director of M.A. Counseling Licensure Programs, Director of Clinical Training, and Associate Professor of Counseling at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. Dr. Moitinho has many years of pastoral ministry, counseling, and teaching experience having served in various roles such as pastor, counselor, seminary professor, and director of a Christian counseling center. Prior to joining Liberty he served as the Hope for the Heart chair of Biblical counseling at Southwestern Baptist Theological seminary in Fort Worth, TX. Dr. Moitinho is interested in cross-cultural counseling focusing specifically on the Hispanic/Latino population. In addition to his ministry experience in his native country of Brazil, Dr. Moitinho has taught as guest professor in seminaries in Mexico, Cuba, and Spain. He is an active member of the AACC. His email address is emoitinho2@liberty.edu.
References
Haynes, Brian. (2009). Shift: What it takes to finally reach families today. Loveland, CO: Group.
Hebbard, D. W. (1995). The complete handbook for family life ministry in the church. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Jones, T. P. (2009). Foundations for family ministry. In T. P. Jones (Ed.), Perspectives on family ministry (pp. 37-52). Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group.