NEWS//Family & Marriage

316NOW is in the process of evaluating a pilot program that the board of directors launched a year ago.

Our family and marriage program began last spring with courses on Christian family life that have been taught by Confessional Lutherans in the U.S. to young people in China. The classes have received high marks from the young people we have taught, as well as from their parents.

Every pilot program, however, needs to be evaluated. This one is no different.

316NOW is assembling a group of Confessional Lutherans who have worked in Christian family and marriage ministry — some with experience in China. This team will review our current program and suggest ways it could be improved.

“The initiative,” writes the head of this team, “is about partnering with Chinese Christians, especially pastors, in helping Chinese families practice biblical family principles in their homes.”

Our executive director adds, “The bottom line is: families in China are in horrible shape for a variety of cultural reasons and, particularly, because 90% of China is not Christian and the 10% that is Christian is uninformed about raising and living in a Christian family.”

“We believe that sharing God's plan for families and marriages will strengthen Christian homes and provide opportunities to share the gospel in China. But beyond that, a marriage and family program will enable 316NOW to begin to identify Christian leaders who could become banner-bearers for Confessional Lutheranism in China. That goal is our ultimate purpose for a family and marriage program.”

What you can do: Pray for the Spirit’s blessing on our family and marriage ministry program. Ask him to gather the right team to develop this ministry. Ask him to use this ministry as a way to build Christian families and to share the gospel with all the other families in China.