Southwestern D6 Family Ministry Journal makes its debut

The first issue of the newly branded Southwestern D6 Family Ministry Journal, a joint publication by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Randall House’s D6 Family Ministry announced in the spring 2022, was released today with a focus on the role parents have in shaping a biblical worldview in their children.

“As a culture, we have drifted away from God’s design of family and the journal allows us to kind of come back to that biblical blueprint for family and for family ministry,” said Jonathan Williams, managing editor of the journal and adjunct professor at Southwestern. “This allows us to have this great resource for churches, who are wanting to be faithful in their own family ministry, reaching the next generation equipping parents to disciple their children. I think it is of paramount importance for the church today.”

In addition to Williams’s role as managing editor, Chris Shirley, dean of the Jack D. Terry School of Educational Ministries and professor of educational ministries, served as the chairman of the journal’s editorial board.

“We are excited and honored to work alongside the D6 organization and its leader, Ron Hunter,” said Shirley, who also serves as Jack D. and Barbara Terry Chair of Religious Education. “They have distinguished themselves as the primary leader in the area of family ministry publishing and conferencing. Our relationship with them will help us to be recognized at Southwestern as a premier school in this essential area of ministry in the home and in the church.”

Although the D6 Family Ministry Journal has been published since 2016, this is the first publication under the partnership between Southwestern Seminary and D6 Family Ministry. Shirley noted the continued importance of the journal to the academy “because it is a way to highlight research and scholarship in the area of family ministry in the academic community. This is a unique journal in that no other educational institution or seminary is producing this type of journal.”

Williams added that the journal “allows us to provide new research in the field of family ministry, allows us to put forth new academic contributions that will strengthen the academy, the seminaries, but also be an encouragement to both the church and parachurch ministries.”

The Southwestern D6 Family Ministry Journal includes peer-reviewed academic articles that, according to Williams, “provide great research” and practitioner insights, which paint a picture of the “stories about what God is doing” in ministries. He hopes the journal is encouraging for churches who are “striving to grow in their own family ministry.”

The editorial board includes people from 12 different colleges and seminaries who will help in promoting the journal and “championing and highlighting this volume in their own seminaries,” said Williams.

In addition to their editorial oversight, Shirley and Williams co-authored an article for the publication titled, “Gospel Family: A Practical Theology of the Gospel’s Impact on the Home.”

 They wrote about this topic because it is a “passion” that they share and are convicted that “what families need the most, of course, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what’s going to transform families and the home the most today is the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” said Williams.

“Even within the context of family ministry in the church, we know it’s not about the model that you use, programs that you have or events that you schedule,” Williams added. “It’s about bringing the Gospel into the hearts and homes of the families in our church. It’s the power of the Gospel that transforms.”

Shirley explained the meaning of their article when he said, “We decided to include this article as a way of identifying our biblical position on the family and express our commitment at Southwestern to being biblically grounded in all our areas of study.”

In addition to Shirley and Williams’s roles with the journal, Southwestern graduates contributed articles to the journal.

Gady Youmans, director and teacher of Sweet Onion Christan Learning Center from Vidalia, Georgia, and three-time graduate of Southwestern contributed practitioner insights entitled “Bible Courses Back in Public Schools: Discipling and Training Students with the Gospel for Elective Credits.” Youmans thinks the “greatest need” is “Biblical illiteracy” and he combats that by teaching Bible classes for class credit to public high school students through Released Time Education at SOCLC.

June Lee, director of First Steps Preschool at First Baptist Church of Katy in Katy, Texas, holds two degrees from Southwestern. Lee is passionate about her topic she chose for the journal, “Building a Biblical Worldview for Children Through Spiritual Disciplines” and “wants to share her research with others because it is so important that we raise our children, the next generation for Christ.”

Lee explained that it takes a long time to build a biblical worldview. “When children are young, it’s such a great opportunity to lay the great foundation for their entire life,” said Lee. She urges parents to “instill the values of a biblical worldview” to their young children. “My passion is not losing that window of opportunity that God gave us to raise our children as a Christ follower. Building a biblical worldview through spiritual disciplines is so important and it’s related to every aspect of children’s life,” said Lee.

The Southwestern D6 Family Ministry Journal will be available on the D6 website, and at the Southwestern booth at the D6 Family Ministry Conference on April 10-12 in Orlando, Florida.