Religion and Theology

The authors of the book Family to Family are not only authors by profession but have been working in different ministries and it is their services in different spheres of life other than authorship that has shaped their stance to write something on religion and theology. One of the authors, Pipes is the Team leader of the Prayer and Spiritual Awakening team of the North American Mission Board and has been an orator in schools, churches and other significant places. He has been a presenter of war on drugs in H.W Bushs Administration.  Dr. Pipes are called a typical Texan by many of his contemporaries as he relished ample pride for the state he belonged. He also authored Becoming Complete and Building a Successful Family Living.  The other author Lee has been a veteran journalist and minister where the center of his concern was issues as good family living, sports evangelism, singles ministry and discipleship. Lee wrote profusely in Christian magazines and websites, and also for sports magazines.

The authors state the purpose of the book in the opening lines of the book that the book, Family to Family, is for those parents who desire meaningful family time and want to pass baton of their faith in Christ on to their children (Pipes and Lee 1999)

Lee and Pipes guide the parents for how to disciple their children and when to introduce them to Christ. They start with telling what a healthy family is and what an unhealthy family is and they also compare and contrast the two with each other, then they go on to describe the guidelines for developing a Mission Statement that is to contain the values and traits that good families must possess. According to the authors, parents are at the center of a family evangelism. In the process of developing Mission Statement it is essential, according to the authors, to take a family inventory and then materialize the statement while keeping the goal before you with the inclusion of the entire family so that the principles of the mission are fulfilled successfully. They move on to tell the parents when and how to pass the baton and share the message with their children outside home and church. And for those who have been late to think of the baton of faith to pass on to their children, Lee and Pipes give suggestions to rectify the situation.  They admonish the parents to keep the age of their children in view before transferring fecund dogmas and beliefs that their minds would not be able to understand and the danger of their being misled would increment. Therefore the authors advise the parents to first identify whether the child is ready to accept the intricacies of religion. Here understanding the concept of sin is of pivotal importance as it is in Christianity. The authors also emphasize on sharing Jesus with their children and on parents for taking responsibility of presenting themselves as a model for their children.

The parents should make the word of God center for their deeds and sayings. To pray with your children is as important as to have meal with them. The authors also illuminate their readers by offering them the ways to evangelize out of your houses walls to access the community to invite them to attend church and prayers. Lee and Pipes conclude the book with the illustration that the failure of parents in evangelizing their children would imply either their own weakness of faith or that the problem lies in the Gospel itself.

This guide for a healthy family, according to the authors, would prove helpful for discovering Gods purpose for your family, for developing a family mission statement, establishing core values, equipping your children with the teachings of Christ and mentoring them spiritually. The book aims to guide for how to follow Christ. The book is written comprehensively and simply but has profound ideas to convey to their intended audience. It includes some interesting anecdotal stories that help to sustain the interest of the readers. As the book commences the story of a family tradition is presented that is followed by a step-to-step guide for raising a spiritually healthy family.

The inclusion of statistics of the research from American Family Association and George Barn adds up to the validity of their argument that they would be presenting. They state that only 34 families in America eat one meal together each day and only 12 families pray together. The statistics chosen by the authors prove how families spend minimum time with each other and this is the root of problem in a family. They identify the causes behind the unhealthy and deteriorating families and how children of unhealthy families are thwarted from the church for which readers find it convincing and applicable in their own lives.

The simplicity of language of the book might have been criticized by academic reviewers and critics who would disapprove the book for being categorized under the category of an academic piece. But the irony that emerges out of these criticisms is that the readers who can not find time for their families and spend only few minutes together including meal time and television would not be able to read a book written in flowery language. The simplest thing for them would be to put aside the book in a corner. The real mastery of the authors lies in the fact that they convey their message to the parents unlike parsons whom people in twenty first century do not believe in. They invite the readers in a simple but emphatic language without being sounding like preachers. Their words are simple unlike sermons but vivid and effective simultaneously. Thus Lee and Pipes succeed in achieving their goal for they teach the parents in trouble what they believe is true. The conclusion, on the other hand, is vulnerable to open criticism as they conclude with end notes professing that if the parents fail to achieve their purpose, that is to build up a healthy life and follow their offspring towards Christ walking on the lines drawn by them, it must imply that the parents might have weaknesses in their beliefs on Gospel or that Gospels teachings must have been hyperbolic.

Another weakness that serves to undermine the rate of interest is the mixing of the anecdotal stories with various statistics which makes things difficult to absorb. The statistics provided in the endnotes must be accompanied with some more background information rather than just been dumped in the end. But this weakness does not overshadow the importance of their being informative.

Next, the chapter on mission statement seems a replica of Franklin Coveys seminar and the scriptures which put the originality of the author in question. Moreover the absence of citation while comparing Jonathan Edwards and the Jukes family left the impression that the authors did the research merely to develop this idea. Pipes and Lee in their book state the example of big rocks and little rocks without giving credit to the real author of the illustration-Franklin Covey. Besides these things the chapter about mission statement is informative, interesting and influential. The authors of the book must be given credit for teaching the parents about issues they think would be personal and which normally the parents would never allow any other person to interfere with. But it is certainly the talent of the authors that they teach without sounding didactic. The readers would enjoy and take advantage of the guidelines which are usually expected from the parsons. The book is also criticized owing to its economy as some of errors in printing have been noticed by some costumers who ask for the need for the book to be proofread before its publication. But the main purpose of the book is to leave a lasting legacy for the parents and help them evangelize their homes so that they would be able to prevent from being astray. The purpose of the guide gets fulfilled as the readers can finish the book in a short time and that would give them valuable principles to baton their children towards Christ.