Family

Session titles include: Defining Family--What is a family? The Value of Family--Why should I care about family when I can make it on my own? Tensions between individuality and community, dependence or independence. Is family obsolete? What is the value of "family" for single people, friends, family life. What does it mean to be interdependent? Family and Identity--What does "family" contribute to a person's identity? Do we create and/or inherit our identities? Brokenness in the Family--What do "functional" and "dysfunctional" mean? Characteristics of Healthy Families--What characteristics exist in healthy families who function in a variety of circumstances? Friendships? Two-income families? Long hours of employment? How does contemporary life work for or against family life? Creating Healthy Families--How do families with children (traditional two-parent and single-parent) provide a supportive and nurturing family life for their children? How do couples without children build nurturing family life? How do single people build "family" that is nurturing and supportive? How do communities and institutions contribute to or detract from family life? God's Family--What does it mean to look to "family" as an image of Contemporary Christian life? God as Parent? Mother? Father? Inclusivity? Multicultural? Family members who have passed on? Cloud of witnesses?