Family Ministry the Lutheran Way

Abstract

How do churches minister to families? This question has been asked by churches since ancient times. Families face new challenges in every generation. While our tools have remained the same, the power of God’s Word and the assurance of his promises, our implementation of those tools may look different in a modern context. This paper looked at what people in many contexts are doing for families through the church. New ideas about forms of ministry are being explored. The Lutheran Church also has a heritage of family ministry that informs and guides family ministry done by Lutheran churches today. WELS Pastors have explored new ideas and new ways of applying Scriptural principles of family ministry too. Research done for this paper consists of interviews conducted with WELS pastors who have shown an interest in family ministry by taking Donn Dobberstein’s course on family ministry in the Summer Quarter at WLS in 2019. As part of the course, they developed family ministry plans. The goal of the interviews was to find out how the plans were implemented, what was successful or not successful based on the judgement of the pastors, and what other pastors can learn from their experience. Because the most effective family ministry happens in Christian homes through parents speaking God’s Word to their children, a pastor can impact families most effectively by training and equipping parents to talk with their children about God’s Word.