Pastors – want your church to have a reputation as a
safe haven for people with broken lives, hearts, homes and hopes?
Pastors – want your church to have a reputation as a
safe haven for people with broken lives, hearts, homes and hopes?
It can happen, maintained Tom Elliff, pastor at First Southern
Baptist Church of Del City, Okla., who has teamed up with LifeWay Christian
Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention to offer a series of conferences
on “Kingdom Families: Come Home to the Heart of God.”
But the responsibility falls to pastors to keep marriages alive,
he added.
“There ought not be any issue in your church that you
as a pastor are more committed to than marriage,” Elliff insisted. “Hoping
that things work out is not enough. Hope is not a strategy (and)
will not solve marriage problems.”
However, Elliffs conferences are designed to help equip
pastors and other church leaders in developing a strategy for ministering to
families.
Ultimately, families can be saved and marriages divorce-proofed,
he said.
The Kingdom Families conference are “24 hours that can
radically change the family life of every person,” he said.
The issue is a key for Elliff. He chairs the Southern Baptist
Council on Family Life and is author of “Unbreakable: The Seven Pillars
of a Kingdom Family.”
And his message is being heard.
Jerry Bellis has been pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Deertrail,
Colo., for three years. He and wife, Christy, have been married for eight committed
years. Still, the Bellises attended a recent Kingdom Families conference.
“We know there are families in our community who are struggling,”
Bellis explained. “We really need to be able to help them through the church.
Christy and I wanted to learn more about effectively ministering to them, but
we also want to strengthen our relationship.”
Aubrey Howell has been pastor at First Baptist Church of Burlington,
Colo., for 11 years. Howell said families are struggling in their community
of 4,000 people.
“I see so many families who are stressed and pulled in
a thousand different directions,” he emphasized. “They are so busy.”
Attending the Kingdom Families conference gave him tools to
make a difference in his ministry, Howell insisted.
The Howells celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary at the
conference. Elliff surprised the couple by calling them forward and giving them
roses and candy.
“This is what this conference wants to see happen,”
Elliff said.
“We want every couple to be able to celebrate a 49th anniversary
together.”
In their own way, the series of conferences are helping make
that a possibility by leading participants to examine their own relationships
as well as prepare to minister to others in theirs.
A LifeWay spokesperson said one of the surprises happens during
the session on forgiveness. “Couples have been really moved to deal with
some forgiveness issues in their own lives and marriages,” he said.
This is especially important because pastors must model marriage
for their congregations, the spokesperson said.
Two more Kingdom Families events are set for 2003 – Oct.
2-3 in Brandon, Fla., and Nov. 6-7 in Highland, Calif.
In addition, LifeWay offers a number of resources for pastors
and churches seeking to help couples in their marriages. (BP)
(For more information on upcoming Kingdom Family conferences and available
resources, call 615-251-2506, visit www.lifeway.com, click on the Events Tab,
Leadership, Marriage and Family or e-mail Melissa.Wilson@lifeway.com)