7 Family Ministry Essentials: A Strategy for Culture Change in Children's and Student Ministries

DR. MICHELLE ANTHONY is the vice president and publisher of learning resources at David C Cook and a popular speaker in the area of family ministry. She is the author of Spiritual Parenting, The Big God Story, and Becoming a Spiritually Healthy Family. Michelle has graduate degrees in Christian education, Bible and theology as well as over twenty-five years of family ministry experience. Michelle and her husband, Michael are the parents of two adult children and live in Colorado. 

MEGAN MARSHMAN is the director of student resources and production for David C Cook and has led and challenged thousands of students in their faith at Hume Lake Christian Camps. With a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Azusa Pacific University, Megan speaks nationally at churches, conferences, and university chapels. She and her husband, Randy, live in Long Beach, California.

7 Family Ministry Essentials: A Strategy for Culture Change in Children’s and Student Ministries (David C. Cook, June 2015)

With decades of ministry experience, Michelle Anthony and Megan Marshman capture the guiding essentials of life-changing family ministry.

These seven essentials for children and student leaders emphasize:

1. Empowering families to take spiritual leadership in the home
2. Forming lifetime faith that transcends childhood beliefs
3. Teaching Scripture as the ultimate authority of truth
4. Understanding the role of the Holy Spirit to teach and transform
5. Engaging every generation in the gospel of God’s redemptive story
6. Making God central in every biblical narrative and daily living
7. Participating in community with like-minded ministry leaders

7 Family Ministry Essentials will energize and equip you with the practical steps, inspirational stories, and biblical foundation you need as you lead those in your ministry.

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My Thoughts:

Anthony and Marshman have given us a very needed resource for ministry in our present culture.  We live in a time that is very scary for parents and those responsible for leading our children and youth in the church.  While it may seem a hopeless feat at times, we can be encouraged primarily through God's Word but also through resources such as 7 Family Ministry Essentials that hold a high view of Scripture for guidance and Jesus Christ as the only source of true gospel transformation.

I appreciate that the book doesn't give a bunch of lists and formulas for supposed success in the area of spiritual formation.  What it does give is clear direction beginning with God's Word and helpful suggestions for applying God's Word in the right ways.  At the end of each chapter, are "Ministry Assessments" that include thought provoking questions that are directed toward implementing a spiritual formation approach to family ministry in the areas of:

• Church Staff and Volunteers
• Parents
• Children/Students

"If the families we serve are not armed with the fact that Scripture is reliable and can be trusted, they'll fall victim to whoever has the savviest argument."

I appreciate that Anthony and Marshman provide a resource that will help church leaders and parents alike discern the voice of God above all the noise in our world today and helps us share His voice with the generation coming behind us.

*I received a complimentary copy of the book for the purpose of this review.

Blessings,
Jennifer