2025 Marriage and Family Ministry Network
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The Marriage and Family Ministry Network's vision is to see families transformed and become instruments of restoration and reformation. The Network will train and encourage Christian leaders who want to grow in their own marriage and family relationships and help other marriages and families be healed and transformed. Participants in the Marriage and Family Ministry Network will receive specialised training at the Forum Annual Meeting as well as helpful resources and mentoring opportunities.
What Network Participants Are Saying
- "I was encouraged when I saw so many leaders and ministries together with the same goal to spread the Gospel and revive the church in Europe. It is very powerful to understand that we are not alone and we can share resources, equip one another, and encourage one another."
- Daniel Lavric, Pastor, Romania - "Attending ELF is a real battery charge for my soul and ministry. It's a place for continuity of learning and growth. Over the past years, I have had the opportunity to deepen my skills in discipleship, apologetics, homiletics, and church revitalization. This year I am taking part in the Marriage and Family Network to learn how to more effectively serve and mentor young university couples. I was not able to attend ELF for the last 3 years and I felt like there was a huge gap in my growth and development. So even more I appreciate the chance to be here with such a wonderful crowd of saints. ELF is boosting me for the upcoming challenges and ministry."
- Leszek Wakula, President of Polish Bible Society, Poland
Through the Marriage and Family Ministry Network, leaders will be equipped to help families be transformed by the power and presence of God’s amazing grace into instruments of restoration and reformation.
Network Leadership
Network Speakers
Michelle is the Minister of Staff Development and on the Executive Leadership Team at Scottsdale Bible Church in Arizona. She has a passion for discipleship and drawing out a greater thirst for more of God and His Word in others. Michelle also enjoys developing people within the Church in such a… Read more
Jay Mosser has served in pastoral roles for 43 years – about 20 years in various assistant pastor capacities and the rest as senior pastor. Through those years he has served in three churches ranging from smaller (less than 50) to larger (about 1,000). Along the way he has worked with children,… Read more
Maurice Nightingale is a member of the Relational Mission core team with responsibilities that include the supervision of early-stage church planting on the mainland of Europe, in particular training and coaching pioneer leaders and developing strategies for both initiating and supporting church… Read more
Melissa Spoelstra is a Bible teacher and author who is madly in love with Jesus. She is passionate about studying God’s Word and helping women of all ages to seek Christ and know Him more intimately through serious Bible study. Melissa has a degree in Bible theology and has authored many Bible… Read more
Christopher Townsend chairs the editorial group of Cambridge Papers, a quarterly publication with the strapline ‘Towards a Biblical Mind’, which aims to help Christians engage with a complex and changing world (www.cambridgepapers.org). He wrote ‘… Read more
Network Programme
Sunday, 18 May
We live in a world with plenty to fear for marriage partners and for families, even those in Christian ministry. We fear failure and burnout, acts of war or violence, financial disaster, sickness and disease, and wrong choices by our kids or our spouses. We wonder if we have what it takes to make it in ministry long-term. In this session, we will talk about holding onto hope and joy in our marriages and in our families.
God’s ways are perfect, the Psalmist tells us, and He knows better than anyone what is necessary and helpful for his people and for the flourishing of human society, including the institutions of marriage and family. And yet in the secular West, the Biblical values that underpin these institutions are being constantly challenged, eroded and abused. This seminar revisits some timeless, simple and grace-driven Biblical principles that equip us as local church communities to build strong godly marriages and raise healthy godly families, while reminding us that these truths also represent profound insights into how God reveals his relationship to us as his own created people.
Monday, 19 May
It has been said that “God cares more about His work IN you than in His work THROUGH you.” God uses the dance of marriage to teach us humility and grace. Marriage is like a dance - not a polished ballroom dance, but typically more of a rookie event, complete with crushed toes and good intentions. This session will focus on how both our strengths and our weaknesses are used by God in our homes and in our ministries.
God calls us as parents to be key disciple-makers in our children’s lives, but if we’re honest, some days it’s a battle just to get them dressed and ready for school on time. How can you mold their hearts when sometimes you can’t even find their shoes? In this session, we’ll focus on eight key habits of spiritual growth for every parent that point us to Christ and lay the groundwork for training our children in His ways.
Tuesday, 20 May
What place should prayer have in our marriages and families? How can we make time for prayer with so many other demands at home? In this session, we’ll explore the vital role that prayer plays in nurturing strong marriages and families. We’ll look at the biblical foundation for prayer and discover practical strategies to help married couples and families incorporate more prayer into their daily lives.
Wednesday, 21 May
This session will offer a brief overview of the ‘gender revolution’ and its impact on younger people, highlighting the rapid increase in gender dysphoria and trans identities among teenagers and younger people. Our focus will be on exploring together some practical ways that parents can help children and teenagers to grow up in this confusing environment, grow up as disciples of Jesus, and grow into a healthy relationship with their bodies, gender expression, and sense of identity – one rooted in God’s love in creation and in Christ.
In this last session, we will explore the following questions:
- How can we apply what we have learned to our own marriages and family relationships?
- What can we take back to our home churches and ministries to teach and encourage others?
We plan to end the Network by reflecting on lessons learned this week and putting together a personal action plan. We will form cohort groups to keep one another accountable to the plans we've made and to spend some time in prayer.