by Candice Watters Have you ever felt like your efforts to do family devotions — to read the Bible with your kids, to pray, to sing songs — are doomed from the start? Spilled milk, waning attention, wiggles and more seem to conspire against meaningful discipleship. Is there something the authors of books about discipling...

by Candice Watters Is it true that family is the building block of society? If the family fails, will society fail with it? Rightly answering these questions has never been more critical. It seems each day brings new headlines about the further assault on the natural family, and with it, more chaos and confusion. Every...

by John Kimbell One of the difficult things about tackling the topic of biblical parenting is that the Bible doesn’t provide many explicit commands or instructions about the parent-child relationship.  We are told that parents should: instruct their children in the ways of the Lord (Eph 6:4; Deut 6; Prov 1-9), discipline them when they...

by Candice Watters Tomorrow is the fourth Sunday before Christmas, signaling the start of Advent. I have good, if fuzzy, memories of “doing Advent” as a kid. What sticks out in my mind is a centerpiece wreath my parents brought down from the attic with the Christmas decorations each December and the way that the...

Brian Croft and Cara Croft. The Pastor’s Family: Shepherding Your Family through the Challenges of Pastoral Ministry.Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013. 176 pp. $ 16.99. by Jonathon D. Woodyard When the Apostle Paul lists the qualifications for pastoral ministry he indicates that a pastor must “manage his own household well” (1 Tim 3:3). Brian and Cara Croft...