Prevention in family services : approaches to family wellness / edited by David R. Mace.
- Date:
- [1983], ©1983
Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Credit: Prevention in family services : approaches to family wellness / edited by David R. Mace. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![16 Promoting Family Wellness Through the Churches Leon Smith The churches are well suited, both philosophically and programmatically, to work for family wellness. That is the thesis of this chapter, although some very critical questions surrounding this position remain to be answered. In this chapter I use the ideal approach, emphasizing the churches' potentials for effective family ministry. It is my conviction that the true nature of any social institution lies in its highest possibili¬ ties. At the same time, I believe we must be realistic about the churches' shortcomings, and even about their detrimental influences on families. Here, the churches means the mainline Protestant denomina¬ tions, for these are the religious groups I know best. After nearly 20 years as a pastor in local churches in Georgia and New Jersey, I became in 1962 Director of Marriage and Family Ministry for the United Methodist Church in the United States, and served in that position for a further 20 years. I have also been active in the Commis¬ sion on Family Ministries and Human Sexuality of the National [201]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b18037604_0204.JP2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
