Family & Relationships

Family & Relationships offers biblically grounded guidance for building healthy relationships at home and in everyday life. Explore articles on marriage, parenting, singleness, friendship, communication, conflict resolution, and cultivating a Christ-centered household. You’ll find practical wisdom for forming strong families, nurturing faith in children and teens, and navigating challenges with grace, truth, and hope. Whether you’re seeking encouragement, direction, or tools for discipleship in the home, these resources help you love well and reflect the character of Jesus in your closest relationships.

May 12, 2017

Christian Standard

Our Grandparenting Ministry””and Yours

(This article is a sidebar to “Grandparenting Ministry” by Michael Crosley.)   By Michael Crosley We have a core team of nine grandparents guiding the ministry and working closely with the Next Gen Ministry team. Future plans include: 1. Developing strategies to incorporate the concepts of intentional grandparenting into the thinking of our church. This will be achieved through using social media and regular references about grandparenting in church publications and services. 2. Providing equipping opportunities such as classes and occasional seminars. 3. Sponsoring “grand events.” We plan to have two or three special events each year just for grandparents

May 11, 2017

Christian Standard

Grandparenting Ministry

Secret weapon. Unrealized potential. By Michael Crosley A secret weapon””does your church have one? Recently Jeff Faull, our senior minister at Mt. Gilead Church in Mooresville, Indiana, said in a sermon, “We are unleashing a secret weapon . . . grandparents.” He was inviting all grandparents to attend a seminar on the biblical mandate to teach God”s Word “to your children and to their children after them” (Deuteronomy 4:9). We were astounded by the response. Four weeks later, more than 90 grandparents of 325 grandchildren participated in a Saturday morning vision-casting seminar that launched a grandparenting ministry at Mt. Gilead. The

May 10, 2017

Christian Standard

It Takes More Than a Village

By Paul E. Boatman In a rapidly changing culture, Christians look for a foundation for healthy life. We can”t ignore what”s happening around us. But we can decide how to handle our homes. Family! This oldest of all institutions of God stirs amazingly conflicted images in the current American cultural climate. Some have Norman Rockwell-style family memories. Some view traditional family values as an evil to be fought and destroyed. Some enshrine idealized images of the family in a way that smacks of idolatry. Each of these perspectives may be found among leaders of American churches. Whatever one”s value perspective,

February 19, 2017

Christian Standard

Single on Purpose, with a Purpose

By Jennifer Johnson Northeast Christian Church (Louisville, KY) has a history of giving money to church members who want to use the funds to make a difference””and the recipients of these donations have a proven track record of changing lives with the money. Several years ago as part of a sermon series, Northeast”s leadership team chose 100 people and gave each one a hundred dollar bill with instructions to use the money for something God was calling them to do. From this investment came a number of ongoing ministries, including a “Mom”s Closet” which helps single moms with education, food, and clothing,

February 14, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

A Command for Valentine’s Day

By Mark A. Taylor Sweetheart dinners, couples retreats, and sermons about love are all great, as long as they move us beyond the frivolous expressions typical of our culture”s shallow take on deep issues. When it comes to marriage, God has spoken. His command comes three times in Paul”s epistles, twice within a few phrases of each other. “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” Paul tells the Ephesians. “Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies” (5:25-28). To the Colossians, the apostle puts it this way: “Husbands, love

January 29, 2017

Christian Standard

Fostering the Good News

By Jon Hembree The county where I live has a serious problem. By all appearances, Barton County, a rural area that”s almost precisely the geographical center of Kansas, is a nice place to live. It”s population isn”t quite 30,000, and the people who live here are, in many ways, hardworking and kindhearted. This county, driven by agriculture and oil, offers quite a bit for the people who live here. The county enjoys a small zoo, a number of restaurants, a local water park, and, perhaps, the pièce de résistance: a 24-hour Walmart Supercenter! Woo-hoo! When digging beneath the surface of

January 27, 2017

Christian Standard

TIME and TIMELESS

By Ronald G. Davis Sunday again. One hundred sixty-eight hours have passed, and now we are here again. How feebly we apply markers to the times of our lives. Yet we are creatures of time, having been destined to be born into time, to suffer all the joys and vicissitudes time offers, to die and find an end to time. Here, at this table, week after week, we assemble to remember that Timeless once entered into time. The Timeless One took on the weaknesses of time, so that he could save us from the inherent weaknesses of being creatures of

November 18, 2016

Christian Standard

Six Tips for Dealing with Difficult Family Members

By Kevin DeValk You”ve made the pledge. You”ve taken the call to move to Africa, China, or somewhere else in the world to share the gospel, perhaps for years.  Upon hearing the news, parents and a small crowd of other relatives look at you skeptically. “You”re moving to WHERE?” Maybe they”re concerned about your safety and their grandkids” well-being. Maybe they”re struggling with your being so far away. Or they might be antagonistic toward the Bible in general. Whatever the cause, opposition from parents and siblings is faced by many new missionaries, even those with Christian parents. Here are a

October 27, 2016

Michael C. Mack

The Pastor”™s Wife: 7 Discoveries She Wishes She Had Understood Sooner

By Michael C. Mack Christine Hoover has been a pastor”™s wife for 14 years and is author of The Church Planting Wife. She says when she and her husband, Kyle, started in ministry, she felt unprepared and afraid. After all, she says, “There is no training ground for ministry life for the pastor”™s wife, there is just the doing it.” If she could go back in time to the beginning of their ministry life together, she says on her blog at www.gracecoversme.com, she”™d tell that young girl these seven things: 1.  Humbly yet boldly accept the opportunity to influence others

October 27, 2016

Christian Standard

The Trouble with Trying to Do a Good Job

By Angela Sanders Nothing sets up a person for failure more effectively than an intense desire to do a good job when the definition of that “good job” is vague, subjective, and a matter of public interest. I ought to know. I am a minister”s wife. For my husband, my church, and myself, I”ve wanted few things more than to wear well the title “minister”s wife.” Now, before you start tsk-tsk-ing me and pointing out problems with that statement, let me save you the trouble and admit that some of my thinking early on””and intermittently over the years””has been skewed.

October 22, 2016

Christian Standard

Reading for the Good of Kids

By C. Christopher Smith Although I focus primarily on churches and neighborhoods in my book Reading for the Common Good, many of the reasons for reading in community are equally true for families. Indeed, most people”s first experiences with reading happen in the home. Reading can play a vital role for families as we strive to discern our identity, asking questions like “where are we?” and “what is our purpose as a family?” Similarly, reading can help our families navigate questions of vocation and economy: Which parent(s) will earn income? Will they work full- or part-time? What kind of work

September 9, 2016

Michael C. Mack

Care for Parents and Their Special-Needs Children

By Michael C. Mack Parents of children with special needs long for a break””just a few hours to do whatever they want. “At the same time,” says Bobbie Lynn Rider, “letting go of control and trusting someone else with your loved one can be difficult.” Rider””a blogger at www.graceandfortitude.com, a site that encourages and blesses mothers and caregivers of special-needs individuals””along with her husband, took their daughter to a parent”™s-day-out event at Karns Church of Christ in Knoxville, Tennessee, hosted by the church”™s “Forever His” ministry. About 90 volunteers made the event a success for the 25 or so special-needs

August 13, 2016

Christian Standard

Hope Haven a Godsend for Single-Parent Families

By Jennifer Johnson The New Mexico Christian Children”s Home (NMCCH) in Portales, NM, has cared for thousands of children since building its first dormitory on 80 acres of farmland in 1954. Today the children”s home is breaking new ground””in every sense””by constructing duplex homes and offering help to struggling single parents. “We recognized the need more than 30 years ago, and began then to acquire homes and provide assistance to single parents and their kids,” says Tom Pittmon, director of public relations. “We already have 12 homes for single parents, but the need just continues to grow. Twenty-four to 34 percent

August 1, 2016

Christian Standard

September Ministry Idea

By Michael C. Mack September 16: Stepfamily Day. According to the Stepfamily Foundation (www.stepfamily.org), “the majority of families have shifted from the original biologically bonded mother, father and child. We are now a nation in which the majority of families are divorced. Most go on to remarry or form living together relationships.” According to a recent Stepfamily Foundation survey of 2,000 web questionnaires, 75 percent of stepfamilies complain of “not having access to resources as a stepfamily.” Work together with family ministries, counselors, and stepfamilies/blended families in your church to develop more resources to meet their needs.

July 21, 2016

Christian Standard

So Grateful

By Chris Garrett I”ve told my story many times over the years. Sadly, I”ve found it a common one. A young woman marries her high school sweetheart, has a baby boy, and one year later, the father doesn”t want to be married anymore and leaves. Struggling with the aftermath, mom and child live in poverty, experience years of physical and sexual abuse during a second marriage, and that boy grows up living a life full of poor choices born out of a deep struggle with self-worth. That was my story, but it didn”t end there. I love to tell people

May 5, 2016

Michael C. Mack

Reconnect, Reignite, and Resurrect Marriages

By Michael C. Mack “Marriage should be honored by all” (Hebrews 13:4). May is National Date Your Mate Month. Use this month strategically to promote and support strong marriages. The possibilities for your plans are as bountiful as your imagination and an Internet search on Christian marriage ministry ideas! For example, offer a special marriage workshop, providing a meal, music, and child care. Or provide free child care at the church building so couples can plan their own romantic date night. North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, offers quarterly date nights called MarriedLife. The purpose is to “help people

April 21, 2016

Christian Standard

No Way to Know

By Jennifer Johnson One of the worst things you can say to a stepparent who is trying to deal with the complications and stresses of a blended family is, “You knew about the kids when you got married.” When you say this you are implying, of course, that because we knew these children existed and had spent time with them, we should also have known what it would be like to share a bathroom with them and teach them to drive and enforce deodorant-wearing rules and be the only adult home when they run over a bunny with the lawn

January 25, 2016

Christian Standard

Boys to Men

By Rick Bundschuh Manhood, inaccurately portrayed and difficult to understand by so many today, is especially hard for many preteen males to attain. Here”s how one Christian leader not only worked to make his church man friendly, but also created a program to show boys how to be godly men.  I could sense the longing immediately. The kid was around 12, had bed head hair, was awkward, somewhat unkempt, and was beginning to exchange baby fat for the sinewy muscles of coming manhood. All I had done was to make a couple of jokes with the boy, and then showed

January 24, 2016

Christian Standard

Protecting Your PK

By Angela Sanders I am a minister”s wife. I have the scars to prove it, but my children don”t. Not because they didn”t see. Not because they didn”t hear. Not because we lied to them. We didn”t. Hunter and Hope came through an enemy attack on their family by church members with their optimism, faith, and desire to serve the body intact. This was possible only because a few who had successfully waded through the murky waters of vocational ministry ahead of us were selfless enough to take us by the hand and teach us to survive and thrive””and maintain

January 23, 2016

Christian Standard

Birth Days, Death Days

By Chris Travis I”ll never forget the day my wife, Lindsay, called me at the office and told me she was pregnant. I had dreamed about this moment. She texted a photo of the pregnancy test, and seeing those two little pink lines felt like Christmas morning. It felt like being in love! I”ll never forget that first ultrasound: those tiny hands and that tiny profile and that tiny heart puffing away. It took my breath away. We had a hilarious plan for how we would surprise our parents. We live in New York City (we moved here to help

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