This book combines the research on spiritual ministering with the practice of counseling families. It examines such topics as how to prepare for marriage, how to keep a marriage divorce proof, and how parents influence children, and vice versa. In its quest to discover what makes families thrive, the book addresses and compares best parenting practices and describes interventions that help the development of family ties over a large span of the life-course. It offers guidance to families through several stages of family life: Pre-marital, marital, and raising children and adolescents. It makes clear that what constitutes an effective parent changes over the life course.
"Intended as an academic text and counselling resource, this book has eleven chapters from specialists in family ministry. ... Consistently structured, each chapter begins with an abstract and ends with conclusions. ... this book is designed to help families at all stages of the life-course ... . The topics are well researched and presented clearly without jargon so one does not have to be a specialist to properly understand points being made." (Denis Toohey, INTAMS review, Vol. 22 (2), 2016)