Beginning in the mid-1960s, practices and perspectives on fathering garnered new attention. In practice, it was a major development when fathers were invited to be active participants in the birth room. Related to perspectives, researchers demonstrated that children reared in a home with a father present faced fewer psychological and social challenges compared to children who were “fatherless.” Such findings helped to shape the rationale and basis of the modern fatherhood movement. Soon health care professionals, social-scientific researchers, and community organizers tuned into the need for responsible fathering and did so with earnestness.
In the 1940s and 1950s, fathers who went to hospitals to share in their child’s birth typically ended up smoking cigars in the waiting room and then being summoned to the glass-windowed viewing room to see their offspring. Lamaze childbirth classes helped to change the culture and increased father involvement (1). In addition, leaders in the social-scientific field noted the positive benefits that would be realized in facilitating father/child attachment in the birth process (2). Practitioners described the power of the “magical moment” of childbirth, paving the way to celebrate fathers as enthusiastic participants in their young children’s lives (3).
On the negative side, fatherlessness became a contentious and racially-focused issue. The Moynihan report was the first to stress that male absence in homes within the African-American community would be devastating (4). Today, it’s strikingly clear that fatherlessness and its negative outcomes impact all children, irrespective of ethnicity. The current and conservative cost of fatherlessness is estimated at one hundred billion dol- lars annually (5). Though a significant sum, money cannot account for the staggering emotional and moral costs, as well as “loss of potential,” that plague a child disconnected from his or her dad.
Currently in America, at least twenty-five million children under the age of 18 don’t live with their natural father (6). Add the number of children who live with their fathers but who aren’t connected emotionally, psycho- logically, or spiritually and you have the dramatic majority of all children (7).
Currently, our federal deficit mirrors a “fathering deficit”–or is it vice versa? Though the United States of America is trillions of dollars in debt, how much more are we in arrears in a loss of potential good because a generation of fathers has failed to invest attention, energy, and resources to help their children or their chil- dren’s children succeed?
The costs and consequences of fatherlessness have been described in great detail in precedent literature; the benefits and assets of “fatherfullness” have been less so. The absence of a father leaves a child at risk. Yet the presence of a dad, particularly one who is responsible and humble, can breathe hope and life into a child. On this, the research and opinion leaders are unified: fathers matter (8), and they play an essential role in healthy child development.
Infants who have time alone with their dad show richer social and exploratory behavior than do children not exposed to such experiences. They smile more frequently in general, and they more frequently engage in playful behaviors with their dad (9). Children who sense closeness to their fathers are twice as likely to enter college or find stable employment after high school; they are seventy-five percent less likely to have a child in their teenaged years, eighty percent less likely to spend time in jail, and half as likely to experience depression (10). A four-decade study reports that when dads encourage their daughters to excel and achieve and are emotionally close to their sons, their daughters are more successful in school and careers, and their sons achieve greater economic status (11). In summary it is the best of times for fathers and their children if they are involved and connected, but it is the worst of times for children who lack a dad. It is clear that fatherless children not only struggle because of intermittent or no contact with their dad, but they also wrestle with emotional and psychological loss.
In 1990, a men’s magazine ran an editorial in which Asa Baber expressed his belief that healthy father involvement had been ignored and minimized for too long. He predicted that judges, legislators and mothers would wake up and conclude they had missed much by not having dads involved with their children, and he predicted this awakening would come to fruition in the 1990s. Personally, I began working in the fatherhood field in the mid-1980s. It was relatively uncharted territory. In the early days, the budding emphasis on fatherhood was considered a compatriot to a “men’s movement.” The secular men’s movement encompassed many diverse streams. A group of pro-feminist, pro-fatherhood men, with Warren Ferrell as their champion, pressed for male equality and for reconciliation between the sexes.
Another stream, headed by Jeffery Leving, was a group of “father’s rights” activists who argued in legal contexts that a father’s access to his children was unfairly limited after divorce. Leving handled a myriad of cases, chal- lenging the notion that custodial rights should favor mothers. Then, there were the “drum-beaters” or the mythopoeic prophets represented by Robert Bly and Sam Keen. These thoughtful and melancholy writers were deeply troubled by how father loss devastated men well into their adulthood. They argued for change and small group remediation to help men become whole. Lastly, and perhaps most influential, were organizations which promoted responsible fatherhood from a Christian perspective. These groups and their leaders dominated the field and continue to do so even today. They included such groups as Dad the Family Shepherd, Focus on the Family, Dads Only, The National Center for Fathering, Great Dads, and Promise Keepers.
The Fatherhood Movement in the Faith Community
Fathering ministry was initiated in a significant way by Dave Simons through his “Dad the Family Shepherd Conferences.” A former N.F.L. player whose life was dramatically changed by his conversion to Christ, Dave concentrated his energies on training fathers. Dave personally trained 50,000 men in two-day conferences before being killed in a car accident at the age of fifty-one. What Simmons started was soon to be followed by a host of other groups such as the National Center for Fathering; N.C.F. trained another 50,000 or more men in two-day training sessions as well as developing training sessions for leaders and a plethora of programs for inner-city fathers. Other smaller organizations–Great Dads, Dads Only, and Better Dads–provided similar training and generally worked in parallel and cooperative ways.
Focus on the Family and Promise Keepers used their widespread influence to promote responsible father- hood, highlighting programs and speakers that helped participants to become better fathers. This segment of the market was eager and hungry, evidenced through surveys in which men reported “fatherhood” as an area of highest importance in their lives (12).
Even with growing numbers there was a general recognition by leaders that the intersection of fatherhood and faith had been largely unexplored. David Blankenhorn, a sympathetic and thoughtful voice, wrote:
Several years ago, I wrote a book about fatherlessness….I said almost nothing about the relationship between human fatherhood and the fatherhood of God. I only asked: Do children need fathers? But what if the deeper question is: Do fathers need God? More precisely, does knowledge and love of God help a man to be a good father and a good husband? If yes, how? The more I learn about contemporary fatherlessness in modern societies, the more I am persuaded that these are not only the hardest questions, they may also be the most important (13).
The Promise Keepers phenomena capitalized on men’s growing interest in spiritually-focused fathering. Beginning in early 1990s and extending through 2005, over 6.5 million men attended Promise Keepers rallies in stadiums across the United States. (This does not include their 1997 Stand in the Gap event in Washington, D.C., where more than one million men gathered at the Mall.) At each venue, resources were provided to encourage and to help fathers prioritize and optimize their relationships with their children. The spiritual teaching about fatherhood was emerging and one reporter summed it up in the Portland Oregonian like this: “A shadow has fallen over the secular man’s movement, and it looks a lot like a cross.” The article went on to detail the dramatic numbers of men impacted by the Promise Keepers movement from a spiritual perspective.
I vividly remember seeing the impact of Promise Keepers as I stood in the Washington Mall in October, 1997, observing hundreds of thousands of men being challenged to be responsible fathers and father figures. At one point, a speaker said, “Get out your wallet, and if you have a picture of your family take it out and look at it.” I observed one man, who looked to be in his mid- thirties, take out a picture. When the speaker challenged him to pray for the welfare of his wife and children, he squeezed his eyes tightly, praying with all his heart, and then burst into tears. It was a dramatic moment that reinforced the spiritual dimension of his fathering.
Promise Keepers proved to be more representative of American men than one may think. The men who thronged to these events were not just the righteous but the broken. In many cases, these men were seeking heal- ing from father loss-first for themselves in relation to their own fathers, and then in the form of direction in their current fathering. Surveys of Promise-Keeper participants (n=4452), collected from 1995 through 2004 revealed that about half of Promise Keepers had college degrees (14). The median age was thirty-seven. Three-fourths of attendees were currently married, although about a quarter had been divorced. The median length of current marriage was eleven years. Sixty percent of Promise Keepers had wives with vocations outside the home, of which forty-three percent worked part-time. Almost thirty percent of those attending reported they were converted to Christ after age twenty-five. Another twenty-seven percent of the men considered themselves workaholics. A majority responded to the statement, “I feel like my job consumes me” with “mostly true” or “somewhat true.”
A majority of Promise Keepers said they had good relationships with their own fathers; fifty-eight percent agreed with the statement, “I want to be like my own dad.” Still, even those men showed considerable ambivalence as well as a longing for a warm, emotionally-engaged model of fathering. Fewer than one-third, for example, agreed that the following statement was mostly or somewhat true: “It was easy to get close to my father.” Faced with the statement, “My father regularly shared his affection with me,” fifty-seven percent disagreed. When asked, “Did you feel that your father was largely absent when you were growing up?” fifty-three percent of men agreed. Twenty-eight percent of Promise Keepers were products of broken homes, experiencing paren- tal divorce at about eleven years of age. About a third of all Promise Keepers reported drug or alcohol abuse in their family of origin and about the same percentage said they experienced emotional abuse. Eleven percent reported being physically abused, and six percent said they were sexually molested. Although Promise Keepers attendees were disproportionately white in comparison with the general population, nearly all these findings were consistent with mainstream culture.
The Promise Keepers movement may have flourished not so much because they were a movement of the righteous seeking perfection, but because they were largely broken men looking for healing for themselves and for their practices of fathering. And they sought it through a relationship with another Father, a heavenly one.
Like most American cultural movements, the spiritual awakening of fathers needed a rallying cry. One text for that cry was found in Old Testament prophetic literature: “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6, NIV, emphasis added).
Scripture as Source Code for the Church’s Fathering Ministry
Long before the modern fatherhood movement, the church had a long and storied history with respect to the role of fathers. Fatherhood-both spiritual and natural-was viewed as an essential building block for churches and households.
The passage in Malachi 4:5-6 may have provided a clarion call for the faithful fathers throughout church history, yet it was rarely explained when invoked. Set in an almost apocalyptic context, the passage highlights three significant words (heart, father, and son). Interestingly, this is the only passage in the Hebrew Scriptures where these three words appear together. Elijah is then introduced as the one who will come again and turn the hearts of one generation to the next. If this does not occur, the land will be cursed. Elijah would be depicted later as one who would restore the generations through repentance and reconciliation, and ultimately as the restorer of “all things” (Matt 17:11). “The meaning of this is not that [Elijah] will settle disputes in families, or restore peace between parents and children; for the leading sin of the nation at that time was not family quarrels, but estrangement from God” (15).
This prophetic call to fatherhood was and continues to be used extensively in the fatherhood movement. Yet there is much more in the biblical source code to provide a framework for the church’s ministry with fathers. In the Scriptures, the words “father,” “fathered,” “father-less” and their derivatives appear more than 1,190 times. The majority of these references are used to trace lineage–”Perez the father of Hezron,” and so on–but a significant number flesh out the roles, responsibilities and functions of a father.
The metaphor God as Father–first of his people Israel and ultimately of the Son Jesus–sets the stage. The notion of God’s fatherhood first appears in Deuteronomy 32:6, 18, 19-20; these texts describe God’s relationship with Israel. God claims Israel as his son and thereby gives favored status. When this son abandons or fails to follow the precepts of the Father, discipline follows.
In three particular Old Testament passages, God’s fathering and human fathering are placed parallel to each other. The first instance is Deuteronomy 1:31. God describes how a son is carried by his father as similar to the way God carried Israel through the desert. He also carried them out of Egypt on eagles’ wings (Ex 19:4). He carries them like a shepherd carries his sheep to higher ground (Ps 28:9). He lifted them and carried them in times where they were distressed (Isa 63:9). These vivid images offer a clear picture of what God as a father does, and what fathers who follow him will do.
A second passage that highlights parallel imagery is found in Psalm 103, a hymn of compassionate love. In this setting the father’s example is foundational for understanding the Lord’s actions. “As a father has com- passion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.” The essence of compassion is described in Malachi 3:17: “I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.” This pattern of sparing and compassion conveys a sense of godly pity. In Joel 2:18, after the Lord severely disciplined Israel by sending an army of locusts, he pities them by sending food and supplies. Such tender mercy is also mirrored in the laments of Jeremiah (Lam 3:32) and resurfaces as Israel is called to become humble, asking God to act anew on his father-like compassion for them (Zech 1:12). The restoration of father-like care is also seen in the return from exile as Hosea gives witness to this compassion (Hos 2:23). Again, if God as Father is full of compassion, his earthly counterparts should be as well.
One last text in which divine fatherhood and human fatherhood are parallel comes in Proverbs 3:12. In this setting it begins with “the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” There are two facets in this simile: discipline and delight. Discipline is reproof or correction (see Job 5:17). The sense of rebuke and correction implies exposure to one’s sin with a call to repentance. The concept of discipline carries over into the New Testament where fathers are reminded that discipline is an essential tool in fathering (Heb 12: 5-6). Delight is used of human beings in Malachi 1:8. The root frequently describes God’s pleasure with his servants, particular in reference with the Messiah (Isa 42:1). Thus God disciplines and delights in his Son, in the same manner a natural father would discipline and delight in his child.
In the domestic code passages in the New Testament (Eph 6:1-4; Col 3:18-21), a total of sixteen words and ten words, respectively, are addressed to fathers. In both cases, fathers are implored not to irritate, exasperate, embitter or provoke their children. Even though different words are used, their meanings are fundamentally similar. The likely response to a provoking or exasperating father is clear: children give up. They become discouraged and harbor anger. When there is a sense that their father is impossible to please, hope dissipates.
This New Testament teaching is in clear contrast to Roman instruction-via such authors as Xenophon, Seneca and Plutarch–who recommended that children should be led into honorable practices by encourage-ment and reason. While encouragement and reason are important, they are insufficient because a child’s will and ability to reason are not adequately developed; thus, discipline, correction, and admonition become necessary.16 That’s why Paul exhorted believing fathers to train and admonish their children in ways prescribed by the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Another foundational New Testament passage that uses parallelism with a new twist is found in passages such as 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12. Though Paul appar- ently did not raise natural children, he raised what we might call spiritual children. Paul uses the term father to describe his relationship to Timothy, Titus, Silas, and many others. He recognizes this authority as coming from God and thus regularly employs phrases such as “like a father.”
Even though Paul served as a spiritual father, his desire was not that his “children” would reflect his char- acter. It was that his children would love in such a way that they would reflect God’s character, responding to the love of their heavenly Father. This spiritualizing of fatherhood is essential in New Testament theology, as it echoes the Old Testament proclamation, “I will be a Father to the fatherless” (Ps 68:5). How will God accomplish this, except through the example of earthly fathers who will defend the orphan and the widow?
The Realities of Natural Father Closeness in the Church
Although being spiritually fathered can minimize and displace the negative effects of natural fathering, it is necessary for the church to wrestle with the impact of closeness to a natural father. If men have a healthy sense of father closeness while growing up, it gives them a decisive advantage in regulating non-marital sexual behaviors and in being more satisfied in their family relationships. In a data set from the Promise Keepers movement (n=993), men who described a close relationship with their natural father reported significantly lower usage of pornography, fewer struggles with masturbation, and less fantasizing about non-marital sexual relationships. In addition, men who experienced deeper father closeness with their father growing up were more satisfied in their current fathering role and marriage.
These conclusions reveal that the early experiences in natural father closeness have a profound effect on adult behaviors and satisfactions. This finding calls for follow-up study to determine, for the men who had poor or non-existent relationships with their fathers, what intervening variables helped them in their journey to overcome the loss and effects of this fatherlessness.
So how can churches help fathers to become living reflections of the fatherhood of God? First, there is a need for modeling, where men see examples of father closeness. Spiritual leaders in the faith community (pastors, elders, deacons and teachers) can be front-line examples and models to men who have been abandoned by their natural fathers. When a group of Christian men were asked, “Who has most influenced your development as a man and impacted you the most between ages 21 and 40 years?” the most com- mon responses fell under the category of leaders in their church. This puts a tremendous responsibility on lead- ers, but it is one that God can enable them to perform. If they find themselves wanting and overwhelmed with responsibilities, or even battle-weary, they have a Father who will hold them up.
In addition, having a small group to disclose personal challenges and to support men in difficult transi- tions is another powerful asset. Fathers who participate in a small group have significantly higher fathering, family life, and marital satisfaction scores compared to fathers who do not participate in a small group. This finding supports other research that demonstrates the value of small groups outside the church, especially for the development of fathers (17).
Fathers and Small Groups in the Church
Although there are many ways to engage fathers-to help them to process the effects of fatherlessness, or to develop as fathers-facilitating a small group appears to be one of the most effective. Why? As noted by other researchers, most social behavior occurs in groups. When fathers get together to compare and to discuss issues that arise related to their fathering, learning is enhanced.
Small groups can have a powerful impact on how individuals learn. The notion of “cooperative learning” is richly demonstrated in fatherhood groups. When asked after a group meeting, “What was most helpful insight a father gained?” fathers reported that the shared experience in listening to other men was most helpful, particularly when a failure or shortcoming was revealed (18). This listening also prepared and helped fathers to form new ways of thinking and to develop new habits related to their fathering.
In addition, small groups help the men significantly areas such as the following:
• a willingness to take on difficult tasks and to persist in working toward accomplishing goals, even in challenging situations such as fathering a teen or a step-child;
• long-term retention of what is learned in group meetings;
• higher-level reasoning and critical thinking, with gains in the capacity to transfer learning from one situation to another (from the group, to the indi- vidual, to the home, and vice-versa);
• empathy and support, particularly for fathers facing challenging issues such as unemployment, court-supervised visitation, and complex fathering situations.
The small groups fostered “promotive interaction” as dads encouraged and facilitated one another’s efforts to reach their goals. This included giving and receiving possible financial help and assistance, exchanging resources and information, giving and receiving feedback, challenging one another’s reasoning, advocating increased efforts to achieve, mutually influencing one another’s reasoning and behavior, and engaging in the interpersonal and small-group skills needed for effective teamwork. In essence, the small-group dynamic can mirror the work within the Body of Christ as a whole when it is fully functioning and engaged in equipping fathers.
In recent years, I have come to believe that one of the best small-group experiences that I can facilitate involves a father and his child. The development of the Father-Daughter Summit, where fathers dedicate a day to interact with their daughters and to prepare them for a “rite of passage,” has been one of the most gratifying accomplishments of my career. During this event, two generations meet to discuss how they are interfacing and how they can better support, listen, challenge, and love one another. Then, they verbalize what their shared relationship means to each of them. Fathers and daughters consistently rate this experience as one the most valuable days they have ever spent together.
Participation in worship is another significant contributor for men who are seeking to overcome their lack of father closeness or abandonment in childhood. The hearing of the gospel and the presence of the Holy Spirit in worship has both a healing and solidifying impact on male behavior.
Why the Source Code of Scripture, Father Closeness, Small Groups, and Worship are Necessary
The depth of father abandonment and pain that can be associated with father loss has a significant impact on the mental and emotional well-being of adult men throughout adulthood. In another study, when asked about their fathers, roughly 45% of men reported either mixed or dissatisfied feelings about that relationship. What is strikingly important is that even though the childhood satisfaction of these individuals was low, this low childhood satisfaction did not strongly relate to their current fathering, marital, and family life satisfaction–unless their abandonment and father absence had been coupled with other negative behaviors such as abuse and parental divorce. In those circumstances, fathering, marital satisfaction, and family life satisfaction are significantly affected in negative ways by the cascade of issues.
Also, adult males who experienced the effects of father loss report higher levels of stress, view and pur- chase pornography more frequently, have deeper resentments when wronged, and struggle more deeply to forgive others. Adult women who rate their relationship with their father growing up as poor also rate their current emotional, mental and physical health significantly lower when compared to women who reported their relationship with their father as good or excellent. These women have greater difficulty honoring their spouse; they also experience higher measures of shame and feelings of rejection coupled with lower mothering satisfaction.
These sobering data make the case that an infusion of healthy spiritual fathering–via a relationship to a heavenly Father and through the transforming of one’s mind to learn the heart of the heavenly Father, coupled with worship, small-group participation, and prayer–is needed in the lives of a significant number of adults in our churches.
A Gateway to Healing
Jesus opened up fatherhood in a profound and pow- erful way. Mark records his cry in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you” (Mark 14:36). Jesus “spoke to God like a child to its father, simply, inwardly, and confidently; Jesus’ use of Abba in addressing God reveals the heart of his relationship with God.” 19 After his resurrection, Jesus said to Mary, “Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” ( John 20:17, emphasis added). This gives hope to every soul such that, even if one’s natural father connection is weak, there is another Father who invites him to come home.
When this paradigm is in place, our approach to fathering and to ministry to fathers in our churches will be dramatically different. It must invoke the power of the Spirit and the grace of the gospel. If we apply this Father-fueled relationship in caring for our children, fathering our children as the Father fathers us, generations will be drawn together.
Those who have this connection to the Father through the Son have the capacity to set a new course for their lives and to offer hope to others, particularly to the fatherless. Collectively, the church is designed to become a movement of healed healers in which one of the most spiritual forms of service could be simply being a dad. When such fathers have their passions ignited by the image and power of Elijah, hearts are transformed. When younger generations see the hearts of their fathers turned toward the Father, they too will be moved to turn their hearts upward.
When the spirit of Elijah works in a father’s heart (Mal 4:6), he will be prompted to restore relationships and convey blessings to his children. And as a son or daughter of the heavenly Father, restoration and renewal become both a present and future reality. Resentment, bitterness, disgrace, and rejection can be cast into the sea. That’s the destiny of individuals, small groups and churches that boldly walk in faith, celebrating their heavenly Father.
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ENDNOTES
(1) Marjorie Karmel, Thank You, Dr. Lamaze (Philadephia: Lippincott, 1959).
(2) Robert Karen, Becoming Attached: First Relationships and How They Shape Our Capacity to Love (Oxford:
Warner Press, 1994).
(3) Ken Canfield, The Seven Secrets of Effective Fathers (Chicago: Tyndale, 1992).
(4) Office of Policy Planning and Research, United States Department of Labor (March 1965): “The Negro Family: The Case For National Action.”
(5) Steven Nock and Christopher Einolf, The One Hundred Billion Dollar Man: The Costs of Father Absence
(Washington: NFI, 2008).
(6) Making Fathers Count (1996) Baltimore: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1996).
(7) Gallup Poll, “Fathering in America” (1992, 1999): http://www.fathers.com/research
(8) Department of Education, “The Role of the Father in Child Development,” 1996.
(9) Frank A. Pedersen, Joan T. D. Suwalsky, Richard L. Cain, Martha J. Zaslow, and Beth A. Rabinovich, “Paternal Care of Infants During Maternal Separa- tions: Associations with Father-Infant Interaction at One Year,” in Psychiatry 50 (August 1987): 203.
(10) F.F. Furstenberg, Jr., and K. M. Harris, “When and Why Fathers Matter: Impacts of Father Involvement on the Children of Adolescent Mothers,” in Young Unwed Fathers: Changing Roles and Emerging Policies, ed. R. I. Lerman and T. H. Ooms (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993).
(11) John Snarey, How Fathers Care for the Next Generation: A Four-Decade Study (Cambridge Mass.: Harvard Press, 1993)
(12) In the National Survey of Men (n=1244) men were asked to rank issues they were most important to them. Even when there was no control for children (i.e., the survey included men who had children and those who didn’t), fatherhood was listed as number one interest issue. Other issues included: money, health, work, marriage, retirement, sports, and so on.
(13) D. Blakenhorn, The Fatherhood Movement: A Call to Action (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 1996),
xv.
(14) USA Today, October 4, 1997.
(15) C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. 10 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson,2006), 472. The commentators go on to say, “The hearts of the godly fathers and the ungodly sons are estranged from one another. The bond of union, vix. Common love to God is wanting. The fathers are ashamed of their children, the children of their fathers. This chasm between them Elijah is to fill up. Turning the heart of the fathers to the sons does not mean merely directing the love of the fathers to the sons once more, but also restoring the heart of the fathers in the sons, or giving to the sons the fathers’ disposition and affections. Then will the heart of the sons also return to their fathers, turn itself towards them so that they will be likeminded with the pious fathers.”
(16) Harold Hoehner, Ephesians (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002),792-799.
(17) Ken Canfield, Why Fathers Count (Nashville, Tennessee: Men’s Studies Press, 2007), 383-395.
(18) H. Swinger, Fatherhood: Insights and Perspectives (Los Angeles: Children’s Institute, 2009), 31-40.
(19) J. Jeremias, The Central Message of the New Testament, (London: SCM Press, 1965),19-30.
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Dr. Ken Canfield (Ph.D., Kansas State University) is the Executive Director of the Boone Center for the Family at Pepperdine University and the founder of the National Center for Fathering. He is the author of several books including The Heart of a Father (Northfield Publishing, 2006) and the award-winning Seven Secrets of Effective Fathers (Tyndale, 2002). He and his wife, Dee, have been married for over thirty years and have five grown children, several grandchildren, and live in Malibu, California.
[Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the Journal of Discipleship and Family Ministry, 1.2.]
