Inside Out - Family Life News

Inside Out:  Managing Family Conflict During the Holidays  Ways to prepare What we can do, and what to avoid Who can offer you comfort? Do upcoming holiday gatherings already have your stomach in knots? A veteran counselor with Focus on the Family suggests thinking ahead of time about how both historic family dynamics and differing … Read More Read More

We develop our way of looking at the world—our worldview—before we turn 13. Remarkably, new research finds that fewer than one in ten parents think through how to guide their children spiritually during those critical years.   Dr. George Barna directs the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University and includes these findings in his … Read More Read More

“Inside Out” on Family Life : What can the Church do to reach the “Nones” and the “Dones”? Some churchgoers are walking away. Others you might expect to come aren’t entering. Author and speaker Michelle Van Loon talks about the “Dones” and the “Nones,” and how to we can “spur one another on to good … Read More Read More

If our understanding of who God is and how He works in the world doesn’t have a foundation in the Bible, it’s possible that we hold “sketchy views.” A great many things work to pull us away from Jesus Christ. That’s not news. “The Scripture teaches us that the world, the flesh, and the devil are … Read More Read More

When a friend is suffering, we want to help, but so many of us just don’t know how, or feel inadequate for the task.  Vaneetha Rendall Risner is familiar with suffering. She also knows how it can draw us to God. Her first suggestion for those of us who don’t know how to support a … Read More Read More

Parents can be tempted to make the children the family’s highest priority. But giving our children the best of our time and attention is not actually what’s best for them, according to Dr. Greg Smalley.   Smalley is an author and speaker who serves as vice president of Marriage at Focus on the Family. He … Read More Read More

Bridging divides — and loving as Jesus loved — amid this era of conflict, in the church and in the culture: “Strive actively for peace” Conflict over presidential politics and pandemic precautions revealed the substantial divisions between Christians that we live with today. “The divisions that we’re seeing in the American church—the conversations—are not different … Read More Re...

Inside Out: The Search for a Church that Feels Like Home We’re called to be part of a church, but looking for one is difficult. Writer and speaker Michelle Morin talks about why it’s hard, what to keep in mind, and why it matters that we’re part of one.  Searching for a congregation is difficult … Read More Read More

“Teaching the Names of Jesus” It’s helpful to use simple terms when we teach children about God. It also can be clarifying for adults, says pastor and author Jimmy Dodd.   “It’s really important to be able to just explain theology on a really, really basic level,” he says.   Jimmy Dodd and Sally Dodd … Read More Read More

Rural Churches Face Post-Pandemic Challenges … with Resilience and an Encouraged Theology Although resilient, small rural churches are contending with fallout from the pandemic.  “There were some differing opinions and strongly held, so I think that we need to reconnect and move beyond that,” says author, pastor, and professor Glenn Daman. His 2018 book focusing … Read More Read More

Your Child’s Addiction to Toxic Screens  Research supports what many parents already know: toxic screens are hurting their children’s mental health. Melanie Hempe, a retired RN and founder of the not-for-profit ScreenStrong, works with families to eliminate childhood screen dependency. Video games, social media, and pornography are the most problematic. “They structurally will change the brain &#8...

Over 70 percent of Americans say they would like to grow spiritually, according to the Barna research group. That includes Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z.  “When over seven in ten people say they want to grow spiritually, they are not necessarily saying, ‘Hey, I want to meet Jesus,’ ‘Hey I want to become … Read More Read More

Marriage is a signpost pointing to God’s unconditional love. Marriage is so much more than compatible people with romantic feelings for each other, and we want children to know this. “Marriage is based on a promise. And it’s based on a promise because it’s trying to be a mirror to the love God has shown … Read More Read More

Girls and Social Media  With more girls than ever reporting that they feel sad or hopeless, The Gospel Coalition’s Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra talks with Martha Manikas-Foster about social media’s impact on girls. They also talk about the precautions adults might put in place before approaching social media as a mission field.   More girls than … Read More Read More

Scams come at us from every direction—postal mail, email, text, and telephone—and they’re getting harder to identify.   “It all comes down to you never know who you’re talking to on the other end of the phone or other end of the computer,” says New York State Trooper Officer Mark O’Donnell.   By knowing the characteristics of … Read More Read More

If your prayers seem unanswered, or you feel the wait for God to act has been long, author and speaker Dena Dyer encourages confidence that God uses the barren seasons for His purposes. Dyer is the author of the recent blog post “Confidence in Barren Seasons: What Elizabeth Can Teach Us.” Have you prayed for … Read More Read More

Good news! America’s 13- to 17-year-olds are, by and large, hopeful about the future.    …And there are ways the adults in their lives can help them hold onto their optimism. “Despite the current social climate and current challenges, teens are optimistic and they’re open. They long to see change in our world,” says Ashley Ekmay, … Read More Read More

Before heading off to university, Daniela Angulo was sure that her on-campus conversations about faith would require all the apologetics knowledge she’d ever learned. “We saw secular college as a battlefield. That was what we expected,” she says. “We were expecting to go in with our weapons in hand.”   What she found instead surprised … Read More Read More

Parents can be tempted to make the children the family’s highest priority. But giving our children the best of our time and attention is not actually what’s best for them, according to Dr. Greg Smalley. Smalley is an author and speaker who serves as vice president of Marriage at Focus on the Family. He … Read More Read More

The essential message of Christmas—deeper than the sparkle and lights— is the very hope that can sustain us in a broken and often painful world. The Christmas trees went to the curb—or into their boxes–weeks ago. So is there any reason to think about Christmas now?  Ben Mandrell, president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, … Read More Read More

From the loss of school connections during the pandemic to the death of a grandparent, sometimes well-meaning adults misstep as they try to help grieving children.    “I think we can get a little clouded around making ourselves feel more comfortable rather than kind of accompanying the child where they are,” says Lacy Finn Borgo. … Read More Read More

Are you dreading the big family Christmas get-together because of the potential for conflict? “Our love for Christ makes a great difference,” Dr. Chet Weld says, “so we remember the Scripture that says: ‘love triumphs over judgment,’ and we want to be filled with the love of Christ and love everyone unconditionally as Jesus does.” … Read More Read More

Your life is probably not too busy to fit in prayer, Bible reading, or another of the disciplines that draw us closer to God.    “We all the time think: ‘Oh well, at the end of the day I just didn’t have time to read my Bible today,’ or, ‘I just didn’t have time to … Read More Read More

People with cancer are already in a club nobody wants to be a member of. Add holidays to the mix and it gets even more complicated.   “As far as the holiday season, because of the emotion, and the community and the family gatherings, it’s a tough time to be dealing with a cancer diagnosis. … Read More Read More

Jesus calls us to humility, and that’s what’s needed to mend divisions in our churches and communities.   “There’s a really kind of twisted pressure in Christianity in this day and age to sort of make a name for yourself. And that can blatantly happen as we’re seeing people professionalize their brand, like try to build … Read More Read More