Article November 18, 1996 Issue

Family wholeness

by Kim Shippey

Earlier this year, the evangelical organization African Enterprise convened a Kwazulu-Natal Christian Leadership Assembly in the city of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. One of the Keynote speakers was a high-school teacher, Carol Cassidy. With her own children now grown up, Mrs. Cassidy has taken special delight in returning to the classroom. She teaches a course in Life Education and serves as a school counselor. "Of course, the young people teach me a lot," she told us. "I'm constantly learning to be more flexible, and to grow with them in understanding the trends and the challenges of their world."

During her address, Mrs. Cassidy focused on "family wholeness," opening with a statement once made by the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops in London: "The beauty of family life is one of God's most precious gifts and its preservation is of paramount responsibility to the church."

Mrs. Cassidy began by pointing out that the traditional understanding of the family generally promoted by the Church—two parents, first marriage, father in full-time employment, mother staying at home—is different from the family portrayed in Biblical and historical times. "The extended family was more the norm in Old Testament and even New Testament times," she said, "and, in the New Testament, we are asked to extend the traditional family to incorporate brothers and sisters in Christ who are beyond the natural kinship line.

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