The Concept of the Families Making a Difference - Book Report/Review Example

? Family to Family Book Review (Insert Bibliographical Entry Pipes, Jerry, and Victor Lee. Family to Family: Families Making a Difference. Alpharetta, GA: North AmericanMission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1999. Author Information Dr. Jerry Pipes is an internationally recognized speaker having travelled the world to speak to people in local churches, schools, businesses and area wide crusades. He completed his B. S. at the Texas A&M University and proceeded to do his masters at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He holds a Doctorate degree in Ministry from the Luther Rice Seminary. He is a member of the North American Mission Board and is the acting team leader of its Prayer and Spiritual Awakening team. Dr. Pipes also served in the Bush administration in the 1990’s war against drugs. He is the author of several books, such as “Family to Family” and “Becoming Complete”, and producer of numerous booklets and training processes with an estimate of 18 million plus copies in print. Dr. Pipes is also the president of Jerry Pipes productions. The second author of the book “Family to Family” is Victor Lee. He is the pastor of Single Adults and Evangelism at First Baptist Concord, Knoxville, Tennessee. Lee has 25 years’ experience as a writer having quit Journalism to enter in to full time ministry in 1995. Lee has edited and contributed to many Christian publications especially in the line of discipleship, singles ministry, sports evangelism, evangelism strategy and purposeful family living. He is a columnist for the Sports Spectrum magazine and a Sports Evangelism consultant for the North American Mission Board amongst other duties in the ministry. Content Summary “Family to Family” is a book that shows the place and importance of unity in a family for the purpose of raising the family to follow Christ ( Pipes, p. 114). The book focuses on how problems within the family can be cured by simply changing schedules and strengthening the family bonds in the family by spending more time in spiritual fellowship rather than investing in deep psychological self-evaluations (11). The authors also aim at showing the reader how critical the link between a family being on mission and passing the baton of your faith as a reader to the next generation is. The book is structured in six chapters which map out the step by step journey of how the reader as an individual can raise their family to following Christ and spreading the gospel to the world. The first chapter of the book is titled healthy families. The books open with a story of a family tradition which will still be practiced for years to come. This story is aimed at showing how traditions are a key component of forming a healthy family. The authors then point out the consequences of being Sunday Christians and living a disoriented Christian life during the week. The main reason for this is the inadequate time that families spend together in fellowship or just in the company of each other. The authors use statistics from The American Family Association and George Barna as their reference (p.6). The statistics show that the percentage of American families who eat one meal a day together is 34% and only 12% of families in America pray together. The average time that a father spends with his children, inclusive of meal times, is 8-10 minutes. The average couple will spend a maximum of 4 minutes uninterrupted (p.6). The authors offer a suggestion of family examination and give ideas in practicality of how a family can get back on track to spiritual health and Christ centered (p.8). A major step in achieving this spiritual nourishment and health is being mission driven (p. 25); the second chapter explains how a family can develop a mission statement. Lee and Pipes list Jesus’ own personal mission statements as guides for families in making their own (pp. 27-32). Mission statements should be developed in a group effort involving every family member regardless of their age and this can be effective during family devotions (pp.32-34). After the family has developed a mission statement in its quest for spiritual health, the next step would be to mentor your own children. The first chapter of the book points out that the parents are primarily responsible for mentoring their children (p.43). The chapter narrows down its focus on how, as a parent, you can help your children grow in the Lord through prayer, devotions and living exemplary lives (pp. 50-58). The title of the fourth chapter is out of the house, in to the world. The content of this chapter is fully captured by the title. It focuses on how a family can minister to the people that are around them; more like taking what you have acquired from family devotions to the people out there. This can be done through open evangelism, ministry evangelism and servant evangelism (p.72). It would be pointless just to evangelize and leave it at that point; follow up will be key for the growth of the new believers in salvation. The fifth chapter amplifies the importance of the family unit conjoining its efforts with the church to evangelize to the world for Christ. The fifth and final chapter back tracks to the basics of evangelizing and its vital components. It explains how evangelism should be conducted and the importance of prayer (p. 103) in evangelism and the role that the Holy Spirit plays in evangelizing to a lost soul (p. 106). Evaluation The book’s purpose is to show the importance of unity in a family for the purpose of raising the family to follow Jesus Christ. The authors have achieved their intended purpose because they exemplify the outcome of a family that is united in fellowship and ministry. They show how spending quality family time is essential in grounding the family in Christ and eases the passing of the baton of faith from one generation to the other. The theme of the book is convincing enough because family unity is an issue that touches the human heart and is a necessity for the success of any family, both in ministry and in any other aspect. In the book, the authors approach the subject by highlighting the short nature of the human life. They mention that the only things that will last forever in this world are people and God’s word (p. 17). This ideology will help the reader of the book to prioritize what they do because focusing on the unimportant peripherals of life will definitely result in a wasted life. The reader will be provoked to spend time with the people that matter in this life especially his/her children because the amount of influence in their lives will be determined by the amount of time spent together (p.11). This is the discipleship approach that the authors use to tackle the main topic. The authors also bring out a logical argument that family devotions should not just be a time where God’s word is read for the sake of reading. They should be an interactive and enjoyable session where the word is studied in depth so that each member can grasp the message (p.58). The reader will at the end be challenged to live by what they teach and preach. This is because they will understand the impact of actions in the learning process which goes hand in hand with what is spoken. After reading the book, the reader will realize that “Family to Family’ is not like other family books which address the problems of the family. The authors do not keep the reader anticipating for the solution to their problems by explaining, expounding and diagnosing the problem. They directly identify the main reason for problems within the family setup as selfishness. The book then focuses more in to curing the problem. The reader will therefore be exposed to ways in which they can cure their already known problem. The ultimate teaching of the authors to the reader will be the value of unity and discipleship in propagating the word of God. The authors use Jesus as the central example to the reader and how the things he did apply to our lives and unity amongst believers and families. The authors help the readers to develop their mission statements that are in line with those of Jesus found in the books of Mathew, Luke and John and also how they can disciple their children and others basing their discipleship on that of Jesus. The good thing about this book is the fact that it gives value and redefines it to the reader about family and salvation in a society that seems to have lost meaning and respect for the family; a unit that God ordained. The book may only seem appropriate for parents but it is also a book that will help the young and single. This is because it will prepare them and teach them how to nurture a family in the ways of God. In ministry, the concepts of this book can be implemented by teaching submission and oneness of the body of Christ. Having read the book, I have come to value family time and discipleship and the impact that it has in the growth of my salvation as a believer. Read More