Voted a 2000 Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy! In today's fragmented and frenetic world, families face all kinds of pressures. Accordingly, those ministering with families need a multifaceted, well-informed sense of both the Christian purpose of family and the complex world our families inhabit. Writing out of years of experience in the church and academy, Diana Garland here offers just such a broad and comprehensive introduction to this crucially important subject. Family Ministry begins with several chapters placing the family in its modern context, then considers the history of families and their interaction with the church. Having thoroughly contextualized the family and its concerns as they are now understood, Garland dedicates three chapters to biblical understandings of the family. The remaining ten chapters of her book are devoted to the practice of family ministry, including guidance on promoting strong families and dealing with crises such as divorce and spousal abuse. All this, based on careful research and seasoned reflection, makes Family Ministry not only a key text for students of family ministry but also an indispensable guide and resource for pastors and those in the helping professions.
Almost 40 years ago, I began my practice as a social worker in church-related settings-- first a Baptist child and family services agency, and then a Christian counseling center. Still later, I served in a Catholic residential treatment home for adolescent girls who had been abused, most of them sexually. In those settings, I began to try to find ways to equip congregations to support and strengthen families, to build communities of care and advocacy for the most vulnerable members of our communities. That work became my vocation when I became a social work educator in 1979. For more than 30 years, as a researcher and social work professor and consultant to congregations, I have had the wonderful opportunity to participate in the development of congregations' family and community ministries. Now I love watching my former students take paths beyond what I ever dreamed to lead congregations to be transformational agents in the lives of children, families, and communities, not just locally but all over the world. I laugh a lot these days in sheer amazement--in those early days, I could never have imagined a school like Baylor Social Work, charting new paths for the church and her work in the world. These books tell the story of what I have learned from families and congregations about the Christian adventure called ministry.
