Archive for July, 2016
-
Do your church members take dinner to a family when there is the death of a marriage?
When my husband had cancer, our church group poured into our lives emotionally and spiritually. They prayed for us and laid hands on us as they prayed with us. They brought in food. They sent cards of well-wishes. His cancer treatment was in another town, and he had to be hospitalized ninety miles from our home. Our friends handed me cash to Read more…
-
“We don’t have any kids in our church from divorced families. Why would we need DivorceCare for Kids?”
You might be surprised to find children of divorce in your church. It might mean one has to look differently for children of divorce and in places you might not have considered. For example, ever thought about children in two-parent families being from a divorce? If you have any blended or step family situations then more than likely you have children of Read more…
-
How you can help grandparents face financial issues when parenting grandchildren
In a previous article we talked about how to help grandparents prepare their home for grandkids who come to stay. This post will discuss the financial issues these grandparent face when the grandkids come to live with them and how you, the church, can help these families. There are many reasons grandkids come to live with grandparents. Some of these situations include Read more…
-
Talking to kids about disasters
I grew up in Bartlesville, OK. I have heard about tornadoes my entire life. I owned two child care programs in OK for over twenty-five years. As a kid I remember going into the hallways at school and putting my hands over my head while crouched down on my knees. In childcare we practiced relentlessly with the children. The fire department recommended Read more…
-
How many churches have been equipped with the DC4K, (DivorceCare for Kids) materials?
My first answer to the question above is not nearly enough! DC4K was released twelve years ago and to date a little 3,700 churches have been equipped with the DC4K materials. That is almost one church a day that has been equipped with a DC4K kit. Many churches will run several 13-week sessions in a year. We know thousands of children are having Read more…
-
How to reach out to the single parents in your church – even when you don’t have the time
You are already REALLY busy with your children’s ministry responsibilities (not to mention your life outside church). How you could possibly contribute to lives of the single parents in your church when you may be feeling overwhelmed yourself? It’s not as hard as you think. You don’t have to do it alone. Pray about what God wants from you. Maybe He wants Read more…
-
Tips to help the alienated parent maintain the parent-child relationship
It’s hard to understand all of the issues involved in parental alienation. We’ve learned parental alienation is real. It hurts to the core of parenting. It devastates the parent-child relationship. It is a very difficult concept for church leaders to understand and even harder to encourage the alienated parent. Alienated parents very much need the church family to walk alongside them during this Read more…
-
Understanding and encouraging the alienated parent
In the article Parental alienation—is it real? we defined what parental alienation is and how to help the children affected by it. Another part of effectively ministering to the child is ministering to the parent. Parental alienation is a family issue, and everyone in the family is affected in one way or another. In order to help you better understand the parent’s issue, Read more…
-
Question of the week: What were the top 3 reasons you created DivorceCare for Kids?
People often ask me why I created DC4K or DivorceCare for Kids. There are many reasons; hundreds of them, and they all have a name. They are boys and girls that I have known and worked with down through the years. The top 3 reasons I created DC4K, DivorceCare for Kids are: Reason #1 Approximately one million children a year see the Read more…