Defining the “Good Family” in Local Congregations 173Table 13.2.Programming by Faith Tradition
Liberal Moderate Conservative
Protestant Protestant Protestant CatholicN 222159 18
Change time/timing of programs 23% 38% 54% 65%
Move programming off-site, closer 9% 5% 32% 11%
to members’ homes
Programs that help people cope with 27% 14% 29% 17%
work-related stress
Counseling – domestic violence 23% (40%) 24% (40%) 27% (19%) 22% (67%)
Counseling – family or marital 73% (25%) 62% (15%) 83% (12%) 50% (22%)
Daycare for members 23% 33% 5% 33%
Babysitting during meetings/activities 86% 81% 85% 61%
Babysitting/nursery during worship 96% 76% 83% 50%
Programs for single parents 10% 0 33% 17%
Programs for divorced members 18% 19% 25% 22%
Parenting classes 32% 19% 36% 33%
Intergenerational programming 68% 81% 68% 54%
Total # of programs organized by 6.5 (5) 5.1 (5) 7.4 (6) 6.8 (5)
gender and life- stage – mean (mode)
Total # of formal programs organized by 4.6 (5) 4.1 (3) 4.2 (4) 5 (2)
gender and life- stage – mean (mode)
Note:Denominations classified following Smith 1990; The numbers (in parentheses) indicate the
percentage of those who, offering the program, do so in a formal/regular way, instead of on an
ad-hoc or case-by-case basis.
fellowship activities often include structured dialogue on men’s roles as husbands and
fathers, and pastors work hard to establish one-on-one counseling relationships with
men who feel troubled about their marriages or children.
Ministering to those who have experienced family disruption is also a high priority
for evangelical Protestant congregations, and over a third make some effort to develop
ministry for divorced members or single parents. In focus groups, evangelical pastors
talked about the congregation’s role in providing healing for members having gone
through family crisis or dissolution. This rhetoric corresponds to a larger evangelical
discourse that views all members as being “broken” by sin and in need of the healing
offered through Christ and through the fellowship with other believers. Interviews with
single parents in several evangelical congregations suggest that this rhetoric resonates
with members’ own theology and with their own felt need for healing, and is not
experienced as stigmatizing.
Overall, there is a discernible mainline Protestant familism, as well, but there are
some differences between congregations from more liberal traditions and those from
more moderate traditions. In official rhetoric, liberal Protestants embrace a nurturing
view of the family that favors egalitarian gender roles and self-expression in children.
Moderate Protestants are similar to liberal Protestants, but more moderate Protestant
pastors endorse traditionally gendered roles within marriage, and say their congrega-
tions try to encourage obedience in children. All mainline Protestant pastors define the
“good family” according to the quality of the relationships among the members, and