Christian Educator's Handbook on Family Life Education

Description

"As a start or an addition to your library, few books would make a better choice than The Christian Educator's Handbook series offered by Baker Books. Noted Christian education authorities such as Kenneth Gangel, James Wilhoit, Howard Hendricks, and Robert Choun have edited or written these books. Their scope ranges from adult to children's education and covers spiritual formation, teaching, and family life ministries."--Christian Education Counselor

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 février 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441215147
• Langue: English

Extrait

© 1996 by Kenneth Ο. Gangel and James C. Wilhoit
Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Book House Company
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN: 978-1-4412-1514-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
COVER PAGE
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
INTRODUCTION
PART I – FOUNDATIONS FOR FAMILY LIFE EDUCATION
1 Toward a Biblical Theology of Family
James R. Slaughter
2 The Sociological Framework of the Contemporary Family in North America
Daryl Eldridge
3 Ministering to Families in a Multicultural Society
Anthony T. Evans
4 Developing a Family-Friendly Church
Leith Anderson
5 A Survey of Effective Family Life Education Programs
Jeffrey S. Gangel
PART II – EDUCATION FOR FAMILY ROLES AND RELATIONSHIPS
6 Older Women/Younger Women: The Implementation of Titus 2
M. Lynn Gannett
7 Teaching Couples to Communicate: The Problem of Ruts
Dennis Rainey
8 Family Conflict: Causes and Cures
Samuel L. Canine
9 Nurturing Children at Home
V. Gilbert Beers
10 Single Parenting in the Christian Community
David R. Miller
PART III – THE CHURCH’S EDUCATIONAL MINISTRY TO FAMILIES
11 Divorce–How the Congregation Responds
Brian and Deborah Newman
12 Ministering to Stepfamilies
Beth E. Brown
13 Parenting Programs in the Church
David M. Carder
14 Reaching Families through Their Children
Jody Capehart
15 Christian Education for Special Children
Jane Schimmer
16 Helping Parents with At-Risk Children
Marlene LeFever
17 Developing a Curriculum for Family Life Education
Clarence W. Wulf
18 Nurturing Grandparents in the Church
Kenneth O. Gangel
PART IV – EDUCATION FOR THE FAMILY’S RELATIONSHIP TO SOCIETY
19 Handling Television in the Christian Home
Coleen Cook
20 Coping with Violence in Contemporary Society
Kerby Anderson
21 Abortion–A Biblical and Educational Perspective
James A. Davies and Jerry Jenkins
22 The Church and Child Care
Barb Alexander
23 Dealing with Sex-Education Programs in Public Schools
Lory and Bruce Lockerbie
24 Teaching the Truth about Homosexuality
Mario Bergner
CONCLUSION
NOTES
REFERENCES
NAME INDEX
SUBJECT INDEX
CONTRIBUTORS
BACK COVER
INTRODUCTION
“Who we will be” and “how we will live” announces a special edition of Newsweek , with even larger letters announcing the issue’s feature: “The 21st Century Family” ( Newsweek , 1990, Winter/Spring). The cover promises to deliver information on Made-to-Order Babies, Living in a Stepfamily, Doubts about Day Care, Making Your Money Grow, The House of the Future, and Dr. Spock’s Good Advice.
As interesting and helpful as that special edition of Newsweek was, it cannot compete with the book you have just opened. In these pages you will hear from twenty-four family experts, including pastors like Tony Evans and Leith Anderson; elementary/secondary teachers like Barb Alexander and Jane Schimmer; college and seminary professors like Beth Brown, Jim Slaughter, Daryl Eldridge, and Jim Davies; media experts like Kerby Anderson and Coleen Cook; and counselors like David Carder and the Newmans. We have selected authors from a wide range of denominational traditions and theological perspectives within the evangelical camp.
This fourth volume of The Christian Educator’s Handboook series is not about family life directly but, rather, about how churches and other ministry organizations can carry out programs of family life education. As we discuss it in these chapters, family life education is much broader than counseling and, ultimately, much more valuable than crisis intervention. Our authors talk about how to preempt problems before they become fullblown crises.
Though we did not plan it this way, this particular volume of our series could not be released at a better time. Recent information reveals that 1995 was a pivotal year in the next boom to hit education.

Five years ago the U.S. Census Bureau predicted that school enrollment would drop by about one percent by the year 2025. But current congestion in the classroom suggests otherwise. Six million more children are attending school now than were ten years ago. From 1980 to 1993, kindergarten enrollment alone shot up by 22 percent. . . All this has sent demographers back to their calculators. By 2025 the school population will grow from 49 million to 58 million children—an 18 percent hike—according to new figures released by the Educational Research Service, an independent firm (Hancock & Gordon, 1995, p. 58).
Once besieged by hordes of teenagers, the church now must cope with both ends of the life cycle as burgeoning demographics mandate ministry to senior adults and young children.
At the same time we are experiencing what one author calls “a total breakdown of American values, common sense, and parent and community responsibility to protect and nurture children” (Edelman, 1995, p. 7). In a provocative article, she attacks our nation’s “numbing and reckless reliance on violence to resolve problems, feel powerful, or be entertained” (p. 7).
One of Edelman’s steps captures the spirit of this book: “Adults must stop our hypocrisy and break the code of silence about the breakdown of spiritual values, parental and community responsibility for children” (p. 11). She goes on to say,

. . . we need to improve the religious education and programs we provide for parents. How are we supporting them in the challenging work of nurturing peaceful, spiritually grounded children in the midst of today’s violent and materialistic culture? Do we provide classes so that parents can learn to nurture, guide, and discipline their children without resorting to violence or abuse? Do our congregations house family resource centers to connect parents with the various forms of support they need? Do we help parents find the spiritual centering they need, the faithful insights into what it means to be a parent, to steady them through trying moments? (Can parents turn to our congregations for literacy training programs?) (p. 14)
A quick run through the Contents will demonstrate that this is not a book about children alone nor about parenting. We have attempted to approach our subject from numerous different perspectives, always with the focus on how ministry programs can build stronger families. Lyle Schaller wrote at the beginning of this decade:

Perhaps the most significant implication is the attractiveness to church-shoppers of the parish that can deliver on the promise that their “distinctive role is to strengthen the family.” Fulfilling that promise has become one of the two guaranteed routes to numerical growth today (the other is high quality, memorable, motivational and persuasive biblical preaching) (1990, p. 14).
Martin Luther once reminded parents that “on the Day of Judgment God will demand of them the children he has given and committed to them” (Edelman, 1995, p. 16). Those words were spoken in 1520; they need renewed emphasis today. Those of us who lead church ministries must be able to provide biblical and effective family life education or we will lose the battle with those generations already in our churches and those yet to come.
We express deep appreciation to all the authors for their fine work on this project and special acknowledgment to Karen Grassmick, Christy Sullivan, and Cheri Bowen for assisting in manuscript preparation.
Kenneth O. Gangel, Dallas, Texas
James C. Wilhoit, Wheaton, Illinois

ONE
TOWARD A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF FAMILY
James R. Slaughter
We live in a supersonic, supercharged, fast-paced culture in which change is the expected norm. Every day new technological and sociological advances burst on the scene. We welcome creative ideas to enhance our status, refresh our bodies, and stimulate our brains. We question traditional models in every sphere of life from relaxation to religion, with an apparent insatiability for ingenuity and novelty. Should we be surprised that the traditional model of family comes under fire today, or that our society attacks long-established family values and structures?
Scanzoni and Scanzoni note the immense increase in the incidents of cohabitation in America today, unmarried adults in the same or adjacent age groups living together in some kind of personal relationship (1976, pp. 156–159).They also point out the rise of homosexual “marriages,” and affirm that an overt ongoing relationship of two economically and sexually interdependent women, or a similar relationship between two males, could legitimately be called a marriage (p. 183). Such departure from traditional standards raises serious concerns about our understanding of “family,” and motivates Schreur and Schreur to identify and describe five family fears, four of which relate directly to the issue of models and values: (1) the fear that our children will make life-dominating mistakes; (2) the fear that our children will not “turn out right”; (3) the fear that we are failing as a family; (4) the fear that a family member will die or be seriously injured or sick; (5) the fear that our children will not share our family’s values and faith (1994, pp. 38–39).
In addition to this concern for our understanding of family and our questioning of traditional models and values, we see all around us serious imperfections of family life. Most of our familie