Family to Family
Pipes, Jerry & Victor Lee. (1999). Family to family. Alpharetta: North American Mission Board,
The Christian-focused psychology text Family to family offers family counseling with a spiritual orientation. The book is designed to address the difficulties many modern families face, including competing schedules, generational clashes, and having a sense of strong moral values in a secular society. Spending time together in a spiritual fashion can give families an oasis of stability in a fast-paced, increasingly impersonal world (Pipes & Lee 1999: 11). Creating a sense of community within the church and creating a community between members of the family are the essential building-blocks of the author's stated goal to save the modern family.
Family members must learn to establish more meaningful relationships with one another and with God -- rather than just focusing on themselves or blaming others. The authors wrote their book to address a common concern of both secular as well as religious families, namely the loss of a sense of community and togetherness. Only 34% of America's families eat together everyday and only 12% pray together (Pipes & Lee 1999:6). These two figures, they believe, are interlinked: faith makes the family central, and the family must make faith central.
The book is divided into six sections. The first section, entitled Healthy Families asks what constitutes a healthy as opposed to a dysfunctional family. While many of the pursuits of healthy families, such as sports for children, extracurricular activities, and even demanding jobs can bring great benefits to the family, they must not become so all-consuming that relationships are lost and the true purpose of the family is forgotten. This is why section two of the book, Developing a Mission Statement is so critical. Every family can benefit from developing a 'mission statement' of purpose, according to the authors. The mission statement should be formulated using input by all family members, young and old. Creating a mission statement is a great way for a family to discuss Christ's mission, and to place the family's mission in the context of Christ's teaching (Pipes & Lee 1999: 32).
Each family's personal mission must be understood as a reflection of the general teachings of...
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