- ABSTRACT. Summarize what you have read, boiling the book down into 300 words (1 page).
Prove you comprehend the readings by writing a no-nonsense summary. The abstract is not a
commentary or listing of topics but rather an objective summary from the reader’s viewpoint. Abstract
equals �boiled down.� This section should include a minimum of 2 footnotes to the text being
reviewed.
Book Review
- Abstract
BOOK REVIEW 2
Pipes, Jerry F,, and Victor Lee. Family to Family: Leaving A Lasting Legacy.
Alpharetta, GA: North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention,
1999.
This book was written to assist parents in developing and bringing up healthy families
by encouraging them to centre their lives on Jesus and live life in a relationship to Jesus, to
each other, and to the world. It is a book about finding the purpose that God intended for the
family. This publication assists families in deciding what decisions have to be made so as to
fulfil that purpose. In essence, the purpose of the authors is to assist parents find out their
right God-given purpose, offer tools and instruction that parents can utilize to better mentor
and discipline their kids, help parents comprehend the mission of their family, and learn how
to effectively impart their faith to their kids. 1
Family to Family comprises a vital emphasis on incorporating and prioritizing
scripture into all of family life until every member of the family understands and lives by the
principles of the Word of God. Pipes and Lee provide a lot of inspiring stories as well as
practical ideas, activities and questionnaire that could be used by families in making the study
more transformational, practical, and engaging. 2 This publication does not only tell people
what they need to do so as to be a family who lives under the purpose of God, it in fact goes a
step further by telling people how to go about it. Family to Family is divided into 6 brief
chapters that span roughly 120 pages, and includes end notes and a conclusion. Starting with
Healthy Families in the first chapter and ending with sharing the message in the final one,
which is Chapter 6, the authors of Family to Family provide crucial ideas and tips on the way
1 Jerry F. Pipes and Victor Lee. Family to Family: Leaving A Lasting Legacy. (Alpharetta, GA: North
American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1999), 4.
2 Pipes and Lee. Family to Family, 12
BOOK REVIEW 3
that families could grow closer together and reach their community as well as the world for
Jesus.
- Concrete Response
This book has triggered something that I can relate to my personal life experience.
When growing up, my father always took the matter of family time seriously. He maintained
that as a family, we should have a sufficient time together. He wanted our family to remain
spiritually strong. This is highlighted in the book Family to Family, especially in the 1 st
chapter where the authors discuss at length the importance of having family time. Pipes and
Lee point out that quality family time is significant and so is quantity family time. They noted
that one proper way of spending time with kids is to live out the great commission. They also
discuss the significance of showing kids that Christ loves us by carrying out acts of love to
those around particularly those who are lost 3 . Our parents also taught us to follow Christ and
to walk in the ways of soberness and truth. We always gathered together to pray at least every
morning or every night.
My parents encouraged us to pray to God for our personal needs and taught me how
to build a lasting relationship with Christ. In some way, my father evangelized to us. The
authors of Family to Family talk about this in the book. Pipes and Lee strongly believe that
evangelism begins at home. For parents, their kids need to be their first priority when it
comes to having a relationship with Christ 4 . In the third chapter, Pipes and Lee talk about
how parents can help their teens or children in making the choice to follow Christ. For a teen,
the parent is in a more mentoring stage of parenting. Here, Pipes and Lee focus on the
significance of modelling and showing that the Word of God is key in the parent’s own life,
spending time with his or her teenagers, praying with them and for them, and allowing them
3 Pipes and Lee. Family to Family, 18
4 Pipes and Lee. Family to Family, 24
BOOK REVIEW 4
to discover God rather than showing them or doing for them everything 5 . With these
important aspects of parenting, teenagers have a higher chance of following Christ when they
are on their own. We were a happy family back then. In family life, happiness is most likely
to be attained whenever it is based on Christ’s teachings. 6
- Reflection
After reading Family to Family, what really bothered me about this text is the
adoption of business practices in the home setting. Is it really necessary for families to have a
mission statement like companies do? Pipes and Lee noted that a family should adopt a
mission statement and they express their zeal for the significance they put on the idea of a
Christian family implementing a mission statement. Taking up this corporate mainstay in the
family might really not be a god idea. Even though there are definitely corporate facets to
contemporary ministry including evangelism, the Christian ministry is actually not a business
venture. In essence, it is a mistake to treat ministry the same as a for-profit organization 7 .
Bringing methods and principles of business from the business community to a family unit is
a mistake.
All in all, there is more to bringing up a family and imparting the faith of the parents
to their kids than a short purpose statement. It is important to explicitly communicate the core
values of the family to the next generation. Even so, it is not appropriate to adopt approaches
of the business world into the family setting. Using business practices in the home perhaps
could be a result of the growing trend of churches in the United States trying to emulate the
business community. Pipes and Lee could have made the text better by not suggesting that
homes should adopt mission statements like the business community.
5 Pipes and Lee. Family to Family, 52-58
6 David Wheeler. Worship and witness: Becoming a great commission worshipper. (Alpharetta, GA: North
American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 2010), 56
7 Wheeler. Worship and witness. 68
BOOK REVIEW 5
- Action
As a result of reading the text Family to Family, I will carry out a number of actions
or changes in my life, ministry and/or work. They are as follows: (i) ministering to my own
family first and spending enough time with them. In the next 14 months, I would make an
effort to evangelize to my own family members first before going on to evangelize to other
people. Evangelizing to my own family first will entail incorporating and prioritizing
scripture into all of my family’s life until every individual member of my family knows and
lives by the principles of the Word of God. I will ensure that I spend at least 6 hours per day
with my family members. In essence, I will become more rational and prioritize both quantity
and quality time with my families and children. I will also ensure that my family is actually
centred upon Jesus Christ. According to Pipes and Lee, Christian families which do not spend
time together and are not centred on Jesus have lost their way as demonstrated by nearly 90
percent of evangelical kids who leave the church by the age of eighteen years. 8 After reading
this, I can also teach members of my own family how they can write their own testimonies.
(ii) Develop a mission statement for my family in the next 6 months: in Family to
Family, the authors point out that a family which is serious with regard to becoming a healthy
family centred on Jesus has to develop its own family mission statement. Several important
tips are described by the authors that a family can use to craft its own mission statement.
Pipes and Lee stated that a mission statement for a family would act as guardrails and a
centreline for the family unit on the road through life and help us in making the priorities of
Jesus our own priorities. 9 Even though I cannot foresee or predict what life would bring my
way, having a mission statement would be helpful to me in knowing whether or not I have
wandered off from the centreline of my faith whenever family life becomes difficult. In
8 Jerry F. Pipes and Victor Lee. Family to Family: Leaving A Lasting Legacy. (Alpharetta, GA: North
American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1999), 34
9 Pipes and Lee. Family to Family, 25
BOOK REVIEW 6
developing a family mission statement, Jesus and His purpose would serve as the starting
point.
(iii) Minister and evangelize more and share the gospel with many people. In the
next 2 years, I will make an effort to minister together with my family and other families both
out of the country and at home in order to impact our neighbours and the world for Jesus with
our witness. In ministering, we would organize family mission trips, hold block parties, and
even use JESUS videos in the evangelism. This is something which the authors of the text
Family to Family have explored in Chapter 5. According to the authors, 21 percent of people
in America receive Jesus when they are provided with a clear and understandable
presentation of the gospel via the JESUS video. Further, I will make an effort to share the
gospel with other people through the use of other practical techniques for instance using my
own personal testimony.
References
Pipes, Jerry F,, and Victor Lee. Family to Family: Leaving A Lasting Legacy. Alpharetta,
GA: North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1999.
BOOK REVIEW 7
Wheeler, David. Worship and witness: Becoming a great commission worshipper. Alpharetta,
GA: North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 2010.
