New Bible Study Will Foster Stronger Family Relationships
Why do we have so much dysfunction and brokenness within our families and communities? Rene Howitt, founder of COPE24, believes the way to break the cycle of dysfunction for the sake of future generations is through education and prevention. If 64 percent of children grow up in homes facing at least one long-term childhood adversity, then it’s likely the remaining 36 percent of children from healthy families will marry into dysfunction.* And many of these dysfunctional family members are associated with a church or faith-based community.
Yes, brokenness happens in families of faith too. Rene says, “As a child advocate and Christian, I believe it is imperative that faith-based communities understand the importance and impact of our life experiences. While our experiences are both good and bad, I believe faith-based communities should encourage discussions about the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) by using family dysfunction in the book of Genesis as a starting point.”
In their book Family: It’s Complicated—a Bible Study of Adverse Childhood Experiences(ACEs) in Genesis, co-authors Rene Howitt and Pastor Tim Wesemann combine their experiences and understanding of dysfunctional families. This small-group or personal Bible study offers reactive solutions using the ACEs study as a blueprint for discussing dysfunctional similarities between families found in Genesis and today’s families. The balance of anecdotes, statistics, and study questions will assist individuals, churches, and faith-based groups and in cultivating healthier, stronger relationships.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Rene Howitt is founder of COPE24, a non-profit child advocacy organization, and appointed member of Missouri’s Task Force on Children’s Justice and the Critical Event Review committees.
Tim Wesemann founded Foolish Words, a writing and speaking ministry, after serving as a parish pastor for eleven years. He is author of over fifty books and devotionals for children, youth, and adults with more than 2.5 million copies in print.
(Source: Charisma Media)
