Possible Future Activities

  1. Series of book studies in ARE:
    Take Back Your Marriage
    Take Back Your Kids
    The Intentional Family
    Divorce-Busting
    The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families
    Putting Families First
    The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work
  2. Selling such helpful books at book booth during coffee hour
  3. Spin off discussion groups from each ARE class, that would meet monthly for 3-6 months to follow-up on the classes.
  4. Have 2-4 sermons per year that focus on principles, behavioral injunctions, and spiritual foundations of FFR.
  5. Have a Flourishing Families retreat, and a Flourishing Couples retreat, each once a year, with workshop leadership and fun time.
  6. Have a “Spiritual Foundations of Family Life” ARE class once a year.
  7. Make Flourishing Families and Relationships a high priority for Youth Group and Youth Sunday School.
  8. Family Fun Planning Night. Mini-workshop (repeated at least yearly) to help families plan enjoyable activities to do together, to build a fund of positive shared emotional experiences.
  9. Couples Fun Planning Night – same as above.
  10. Family Leadership ARE class.
  11. Authoritative Parenting leadership class
  12. Class on the Nurtured Heart (Howard Glasser) approach to “difficult” children
  13. Set up a “Family Team,” (similar to the “Green Team”) to encourage FFR emphases and programming at FUUN.
  14. Set up Covenant Groups whose focus in FFR.
  15. Facilitate groups of three to four families that would covenant together to be in some ways like extended family to each other. (possible name for such groups: “pods”)
  16. Facilitate setting up virtual or honorary Uncles and Aunts for kids in the congregation. These would function as additional adults who would take a special interest in the child, maybe even do some mentoring – or tie this in with facilitating mentor relationships.
  17. RE: add core FFR values such as respect and civility in family life to the core curriculum – as basic operationalization of Principles 1 and 7.
  18. Have a FFR minute once a month at the Sunday service, applying the seven UU Principles to FFR.
  19. Have a regular FFR column in The Fireside.
  20. Come up with a FFR logo, which would include a rainbow to symbolize hope and also the full recognition/inclusion of gay and lesbian couples and families.
  21. FFR slogan on our outside church bulletin board: “A Flourishing Families and Relationship Church,” also including a rainbow.
  22. Church-sponsored geneology-genogram workshop, to help folks get a greater sense of their connectedness to their extended families.
  23. Follow-up monthly meetings for those interested in mutual support in restoring family cut-offs and reconnecting with extended family.
  24. Managing family finances workshop. Use Dave Ramsey materials, Your Money or Your Life book, or other materials.
  25. Financial management classes for teens or college students.
  26. Offer many of these classes to the wider Nashville community, as a major outreach program, with great publicity and attractive facilities
  27. Recruit a core of leaders to lead all the above.
  28. Facilitate an “adopt a grandparent/grandchild” program
  29. Have a vetted therapist list, of therapists who are truly committed to long-term relationships and “familying” (rather than the individualist or hyper-individualist approach)
  30. Sponsor an ongoing couples group therapy group at church, at modest cost, for those who cannot afford standard rate therapy.
  31. Have “Rapid Response Team” for immediate help for families in crisis.