European Leadership Forum :: Marriage and Family

  Dr. Tim Kimmel and Darcy Kimmel along side with Kory Schuknecht will be speaking at the European Leadership Forum this weekend in the Marriage and Family network.  A message from our leaders:

We are so excited here at Family Matters to be participating in the European Leadership Forum being held in Wisla, Poland this year. The Forum is a gathering of hundreds of the top evangelical voices seeking to revitalize and resource the Church in Europe. We will be overseeing and leading the Marriage and Family Network and teaching this incredible group of dedicated Christians how to apply God’s wonderful message of grace to their marriages, families and congregations. Please pray for us and for all the participants. Thanks so much.

  Curious about the European Leadership Forum?  Read on.   First, there was a need: In the beginning God could have made a country, a company, a college, or a committee. But he didn’t. Instead, he made a family. In this solo act of creation, he instituted the family as the single most effective way to create a haven for his grace as well as a conduit of his love down through the ages. This explains why the forces of darkness have worked overtime to destroy the moral health and relational welfare of families—especially the families of evangelical leaders. If he can weaken the family, he undermines one of the most efficient delivery systems of the gospel. This is why church leadership has to be deliberate about reclaiming the priority of godly, grace-filled families—starting with their own family. It’s the most strategic long-term way to reclaim the gospel’s influence in European culture. It’s also the key to thriving churches because, like it or not, strong churches don’t make strong families; strong families make strong churches.   Then, there was a vision: The European Marriage and Family Network wants to see families transformed by the power and presence of God’s amazing grace into instruments of restoration and reformation. We want to do this by equipping, educating, and encouraging them for every age and stage of life. Evangelical leaders are the key to this vision and plan. Our goals are: • To help repair and strengthen the marriages and families of the church’s gatekeepers so that their work for the Lord is not sabotaged by dysfunction in their personal homes. • To frame a theology of family relationships that is a direct extension of God’s heart of grace. We’ll demonstrate the essence of grace-based family relationships, which is simply treating the people in our families the same way God treats us—with grace! • To show evangelical leaders how to create families within their congregations that are guided by God’s truth, all the while, tempered by his grace. We’ll show them a transferable philosophy, strategy, and tactical plan for grace-filled relationships that can be distilled down to a simple diagram on a paper napkin (serviette). • To equip them on how to connect their churches and homes in a grace-based partnership.  We’ll study how to create a culture of grace within the relationship of the church staff as well as inside the dynamics of our congregants’ marriages and families. • To identify and equip key messengers that can help deliver the grace-based strategy for strong marriages and close parent/child relationships throughout Europe.   Lastly, a strategy: The European Marriage and Family Network is committed to bringing a theologically seamless plan for spiritually thriving family relationships to the center stage of evangelical leaders’ thinking. In the process, we want to see leaders reclaim their church families as healthy bearers of God’s image and powerful agents of Jesus redemptive work on the cross. We want to show the enormous glory that God receives when marriages are framed around His heart of grace and children are raised in a culture that consistently aligns with His grace.   To learn even more about the European Leadership Forum, please visit http://www.euroleadership.org/marriageandfamily