The resources provided on this website have been compiled with the assistance of Journey Church staff, and Christian Life School staff and faculty. These recommendations cover topics including Sexuality, Singleness, Dating, Marriage, and Parenting.

We encourage you to use these resources as a starting point for further exploration and discussion, and to seek personalized advice when needed. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

While these resources are intended to offer helpful guidance and information, please be advised of the following disclaimer:

1) Educational Purposes Only

The resources provided are for educational and informational purposes. They are not intended to replace professional advice or consultation with qualified professionals.

2) Personal Responsibility

It is important to exercise personal discretion and judgment when utilizing these resources. Each individual’s circumstances are unique, and what may be suitable for one person or family may not be applicable to another.

3) Not Endorsement

The inclusion of specific resources on this list does not constitute an endorsement or guarantee of their effectiveness or appropriateness for every situation.

4) Consultation

For specific concerns or questions regarding the topics covered in these resources, we recommend seeking guidance from licensed counselors, therapists, pastors, or other trusted professionals.

5) Limitation of Liability

Journey Church and Christian Life School do not assume any responsibility or liability for the use of the recommended resources or the outcomes resulting from their use.

Sexuality

Does the Bible Support Same-Sex Marriage?: 21 Conversations from a Historically Christian View

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New York Times–bestselling author Dr. Preston Sprinkle provides a resource that will encourage respectful and thoughtful conversations around the question “Does the Bible support same-sex marriage?”

Equipped with thorough research, history, and biblical context, this book will enable you to wade into some of the main arguments against the historically Christian view of marriage.

Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say

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Preston Sprinkle draws on Scripture, as well as real-life stories of individuals struggling with gender dysphoria, to help you understand the complexities and emotions of this highly relevant topic. This book fills the great need for Christians to speak into the confusing and emotionally charged questions surrounding the transgender conversation.

Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been

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Author Jackie Hill Perry shares her own story, offering practical tools that helped her in the process of finding wholeness. Jackie grew up fatherless and experienced gender confusion. She embraced masculinity and homosexuality with every fiber of her being. She knew that Christians had a lot to say about all of the above. But was she supposed to change herself?

Read in order to understand. Read in order to hope. Or read in order, like Jackie, to be made new.

Holy Sexuality and the Gospel: Sex, Desire, and Relationships Shaped by God’s Grand Story

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Loving My (LGBT) Neighbor: Being Friends in Grace and Truth

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Glenn Stanton, of Focus on the Family, travels widely meeting with and debating LGBT advocates across the country. In doing so he has had the privilege of becoming friends with a number of them.

He says, “We disagree on certain convictions, but we still admire and esteem one another . . . Since when was it decided that people who see the world in polar opposite ways can’t be friends?” In Loving My (LGBT) Neighbor, Glenn Stanton shows us how to speak the truth in love on this difficult but important issue.

Trans-Formation: A Former Transgender Responds to LGBTQ

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Dr. Linda Seiler draws from her academic research and her own eleven-year journey out of transgender desires and same-sex attractions.

Whether you are a Christian leader, concerned parent, or conflicted adult, Trans-Formation will equip you with a theological, scientific, and restorative response to LGBTQ.

Grace/Truth 1.0: Five Conversations Every Thoughtful Christian Should Have About Faith, Sexuality & Gender

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Grace/Truth 2.0: Five More Conversations Every Thoughtful Christian Should Have About Faith, Sexuality & Gender

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Grace/Truth 2.0 is an additional five-week learning experience that dives deeper into LGBT+ questions. It discusses why some Christians are changing their view toward affirming same-sex relations, addresses some of the strongest affirming arguments, explores a biblical and theological view of transgender and intersex persons, and offers practical advice on how to embody the grace/truth way of Jesus in the context of ministry.

LindaSeiler.com

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Dr. Linda Seiler is an ordained Assemblies of God minister and currently serves as a National Chi Alpha missionary, training missionaries in the U.S. and overseas in applied theology and culture. She also serves as the Executive Director of ReStory Ministries.

Called of God to equip believers regarding LGBTQ, Linda Seiler shares candidly from own story coupled with a biblical theology of sexuality and the latest research regarding the origins of same-sex attractions and gender dysphoria. View a complete list of Linda’s recommended resources.

Moral Revolution | LGBTQ+ & Same-Sex Attraction

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In today’s culture, opinions and ideas run high on sexual orientation, same-sex-attraction (SSA), transgenderism, and what love is or should be. We realize this is a sensitive area to address and finding loving truth sometimes feels impossible.

Moral Revolution’s goal is to provide language, resources, hope and support from a team that includes pastors, leaders, counselors, and men and women who’ve come out of homosexuality. They work to demystify the experience of homosexuality and offer strategies to love extravagantly while upholding biblical truth.

ReStory Ministries

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ReStory is committed to providing believers with biblical resources and training that address LGBTQ, so that pastors and leaders can be equipped for effective ministry, individuals and families can find hope and support, and congregations can become healing communities.

Singles

Sincerely, Singleness: To Whom I Am Concerned With

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There is a growing concern regarding singleness and its existence within the church, and with the combination of varying perspectives on relationships and the Bible, singleness brings with it many questions.

Join in the discussion surrounding singleness and singleness within the Christian church. Looking at what our views on singleness tell us about ourselves, at how single people can be supported within the church, and at the reminder that there is only one thing that truly matters for all people—and it’s not the status of single or married.

Moral Revolution | Singles

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Whether you’re satisfied with being single, haven’t found that right one yet, or you’re still trying to figure out life in general, we understand. Being single can be one of the most enjoyable, or one of the most vulnerable and frustrating parts of life. The goal at Moral Revolution is to equip you with everything you need to live out this season healthy, whole, and wildly free!

The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast

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Episode 644 | Annie F. Downs On The Opportunity Churches Are Missing With Single Men and Women

Annie F. Downs talks about how churches are missing opportunities in ministry to and with single men and women. Plus, she discusses a new take on sexual purity, how to finish well, why your 50s, 60s, and 70s are your best decades, the state of publishing and podcasting, and lessons from New York.

That Sounds Fun with Annie F. Downs

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Episode 857 | Singleness in the Church with David Platt

There’s a lot of beauty to being single in the church, but there’s also a lot of hurt, misunderstanding, and disappointment, so Annie and Pastor David Platt have an honest conversation about how singles can thrive in their church, what conversations we could be having with our pastors and church leaders (and vice versa) and how we help single people not feel invisible.

That Sounds Fun with Annie F. Downs

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TSF Q&A: Singleness

After receiving over 700 questions in 24 hours about how to live well in the season you are in right now, particularly speaking to singleness, Annie F. Downs narrowed it down to around 100 questions, trying to cover every area/topic that was asked. Hopefully our single friends find this conversation helpful!

THINQ Media Podcast

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Episode 050 | Singleness: Annie F. Downs

What does it mean to think well about singleness? It’s easy for the church to make marriage into an idol, but our single friends have much to offer and are a vital part of the conversation. Listen in as Annie F. Downs shares about her experience and how she’s striving for fulfillment in singleness, whatever the outcome.

Thriving in Singleness Podcast

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Being single isn’t easy. Finding joy in it isn’t either. It’s easy to feel like you’ve been left behind, or overlooked. Speaking from experience, singleness is one of the most difficult, yet unappreciated seasons in life. What is God’s purpose in this? What should I be doing with my singleness? How can I maximize this season of life I have been loathing for quite some time now?

Join us every episode to find wisdom and inspiration on how you can find joy, purpose, and adventure in this season of life.

Dating & Relationships

Boundaries in Dating: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Relationships

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How do you set smart limits on your physical relationship? How much do you get involved financially? And how do you know if you’ve found your future spouse? Dating can be fun, but it’s not always easy to navigate the questions and intricacies along the way.

Boundaries in Dating unfolds a wise, biblical path to developing self-control, freedom, and intimacy.

Find Your People: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World

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In a world that’s both more connected and more isolating than ever before, we’re often tempted to do life alone because we’re so busy or because relationships feel risky and hard. But science confirms that consistent, meaningful connection has a powerful impact on our well-being. We are meant to live known and loved. But so many are hiding behind emotional walls that we’re experiencing an epidemic of loneliness.

Forgiving What You Can’t Forget: Discover How to Move On, Make Peace with Painful Memories, and Create a Life That’s Beautiful Again

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Have you ever felt stuck in a cycle of unresolved pain, playing offenses over and over in your mind? You know you can’t go on like this, but you don’t know what to do next. Lysa TerKeurst has wrestled through this journey. But in surprising ways, she’s discovered how to let go of bound-up resentment and overcome the resistance to forgiving people who aren’t willing to make things right.

Good Boundaries and Goodbyes: Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Who You Are

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Is it unloving or selfish to set a boundary with family members or friends? Are Christians ever called to walk away from a relationship that’s no longer safe or sustainable? Lysa TerKeurst deeply understands these hard questions in the midst of relational struggles.

You’ll be relieved to learn that boundaries aren’t just a good idea, they’re a God idea.

How To Get A Date Worth Keeping: Be Dating In Six Months Or Your Money Back

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Let’s face it—dating isn’t always fun. But starting today, you can begin a journey that will bring fun and interesting people into your life, broaden your experience of others and yourself, and lead you toward that date of all dates—a date worth keeping.

How to Put Love First: Find Meaningful Connection with God, Your People, and Your Community

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You are meant to be in relationships that bring joy and connection—that help you know soul-deep peace and leave you feeling loved instead of lonely. Instead, surface-level friendships, filtered social media feeds, unresolved conflicts, and unhealthy relationships can often seem to harm our self-worth, spiritual growth, and mental health—and keep us from the very relationships that could bring that true connection.

Prioritizing and deepening your love relationship with God is the key to growing healthy relationships in every area of life.

Outdated: Find Love That Lasts When Dating Has Changed

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In a world where dating is increasingly geared toward casual relationships rather than marriage, it’s easy for single people to feel discouraged, used, or unworthy of true love and lasting affection. Reality just never seems to match up with our (often wildly unrealistic) expectations.

This practical book explains God’s purposes for singleness, dating, and marriage and covers why you should date, who you should date, and how you should date.

Preparing for Marriage: Help for Christian Couples

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Getting to know that special someone naturally involves learning about family and friends, education and athletics, favorite pastimes, and your hopes and dreams. Ideally, you’ll talk about life’s best moments and worst, the brightest places in your background and the darkest.

But what about God? What is his role in your relationship? What do each of you believe about him? And how do you understand his dream for marriage—for your marriage?

The Ready or Knot Prayer Guide: 100 Prayers for Dating and Engaged Couples

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Who you choose to marry is one of the most important decisions of your life. This decision affects everything that will happen to you from that point forward. So how much have you and your significant other prayed together about your shared life to come?

The best time to start praying for your marriage is before you say, “I do.” This devotional guide helps you learn how to pray together for twelve specific areas of your relationship.

Things I Wish I’d Known Before We Got Married

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Dr. Gary Chapman believes that divorce is the lack of preparation for marriage and the failure to learn the skills of working together as intimate teammates.

This book is packed with wisdom and tips that will help many develop the loving, supportive, and mutually beneficial marriage men and women long for. The material lends itself to heart-felt discussions by dating or engaged couples. By understanding and balancing the five key aspects of life, dating couples can experience a healthy dating relationship.

Moral Revolution | Dating

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Whether you call it dating, courting, getting to know someone, or pursuing a possible future – we don’t think the process should be difficult. Our goal is to help you walk through the stages of dating with honor, passion, and desire from the first date to the first kiss as husband and wife… and maybe a few rejections in between. Either way, we’ll be walking side by side with you the entire journey.

Marriage

Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away: Real Help for Desperate Hearts in Difficult Marriages

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Millions of couples are struggling in desperate marriages. But the story doesn’t have to end there. Dr. Gary Chapman writes, “I believe that in every troubled marriage, one or both partners can take positive steps that have the potential for changing the emotional climate in their marriage.”

Marriage has the same potential to be miserable as it does to be blissful. Read Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away to learn how you can turn things around.

Marriage: 6 Gospel Commitments Every Couple Needs to Make

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When you say “I do,” you begin the journey of a lifetime― and you have dreams of that journey being perfect. But it won’t take long for expectations of the perfect marriage to fade away in the struggles of everyday life. A long-term, vibrant marriage needs to be grounded in something sturdier than romance―the life-changing power of the gospel.

Paul David Tripp encourages couples to make six biblical commitments that will equip couples to cultivate thriving, joy-filled marriages built on Christ.

The Marriage Devotional: 52 Days to Strengthen the Soul of Your Marriage

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Today’s challenges can make a fulfilling marriage seem like an impossible dream. Yet God delights in doing the impossible if only we would ask! Stormie Omartian shares how God can strengthen your marriage as you pray for your husband concerning key areas in his life.

The Power of a Praying Husband

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In The Power of a Praying® Husband, you’ll find the excitement and hope that come from inviting the God who hears and answers prayer into your marriage. Packed with real-life examples and refreshing honesty regarding her own marriage, Stormie Omartian encourages you to lovingly intercede for your wife in every area of her life.

The Power of a Praying Wife

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God wants you to have a strong, thriving, and fun marriage. Even in the midst of mortgage payments, emotional baggage, drama, mistakes, and a whole lot of laundry, your marriage can not only survive, but be sweet, steady, and strong.

In these 52 devotions, Levi and Jennie Lusko will point you to God’s Word and help you experience a depth and beauty you may have never thought possible.

Moral Revolution | Marrieds

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Marriage is God’s chosen mechanism for ultimate intimacy with another person. He’s created sex to be a powerful force in bonding husband and wife. Moral Revolution wants to see healthy, powerful marriages that are deeply connected. Through vulnerable conversations, they encourage strong marriages to enjoy powerful sexual fulfillment.

Parenting

Bedtime Family Devotional: 90 Devotions to Help Your Family Love and Live for God

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This helpful, hopeful family resource is exactly what you need to strengthen your faith as a family. It includes 90 days of biblically grounded devotions, prayers, and action steps. Organized into three sections, this devotional helps parents answer three important questions: What do I want my child to know? What do I want my child to be? What do I want my child to do? As you walk through these pages together at the end of each day, you will instill God’s Word in your children’s hearts.

The Bible Recap Kids’ Devotional: 365 Reflections and Activities for Children and Families

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Reading Scripture can be exciting and engaging for kids and adults alike! Designed for children ages 6 and up, this interactive devotional is their personal tour guide, pointing out key verses and important, fascinating things to learn about God—from Genesis through Revelation. Along the way, your child will also enjoy word puzzles, coloring pages, and other fun activities that reinforce essential truths and facts.

Famous at Home: 7 Decisions to Put Your Family Center Stage in a World Competing for Your Time, Attention, and Identity

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Famous at Home is a realistic, grace-filled look at the struggles families face in a culture that competes for their time, attention, and identity. Whether you’ve found yourself putting more effort into becoming famous on stages outside the home, or your stage is the home, Famous at Home offers guidance and inspiration to help you give your family the best version of you instead of your leftovers.

Growing With: Every Parent’s Guide to Helping Teenagers and Young Adults Thrive in Their Faith, Family, and Future

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Parenting that changes your kids and changes you. Many parents of a teenager or young adult feel as though they’re guessing about what to do next—with mixed results. We want to stay connected with our maturing child, but we’re not sure how. But growing up doesn’t have to mean growing apart. Growing With equips parents to take steps toward their teenagers and young adults in a mutual journey of intentional growth that trusts God to transform them all.

Habits of the Household: Practicing the Story of God in Everyday Family Rhythms

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Discover simple habits and easy-to-implement daily rhythms that will help you find meaning beyond the chaos of family life as you create a home where kids and parents alike practice how to love God and each other.

As you create liberating rhythms around your everyday routines, you will find your family has a greater sense of peace and purpose as your home becomes a place where, above all, you learn how to love.

The Intentional Father: A Practical Guide to Raise Sons of Courage and Character

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This concise book is filled with practical steps to help men raise sons of consequence—young men who know what they believe, know who they are, and will stand up against the negative cultural trends of our day. Author Jon Tyson lays out a clear path for fathers and sons that includes specific activities, rites of passage, and significant “marking moments” that can be customized to fit any family.

Loving Our Kids on Purpose: Making a Heart-to-Heart Connection

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Loving Our Kids on Purpose combines the principles of the Kingdom of God and revival to form a powerful strategy for parents.

This book introduces paradigms, perceptions, skills, and ideas that will help parents reduce fear by eliminating the tool of punishment and strengthening the core character of their children by empowering their self-control and value for their relationship with their parents.

Modern Parents, Vintage Values: Instilling Character in Today’s Kids

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Modern Parents, Vintage Values offers you a roadmap—a way through the hurdles you are facing today in your parenting—helping you discover more of how to instill those true, foundational, vintage values that will make a lasting difference in the lives of your kids…values that are built upon an unshakeable foundation of faith and hope. And that’s ultimately where this map will lead—to Christ—and to what it looks like for both you and your kids to have hope in Him in these changing times.

Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family

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In this book, Paul Tripp offers parents much more than a to-do list. Instead, he presents us with a big-picture view of God’s plan for us as parents. Outlining fourteen foundational principles centered on the gospel, he shows that we need more than the latest parenting strategy or list of techniques. Rather, we need the rescuing grace of God―grace that has the power to shape how we view everything we do as parents.

The Power of Home

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You and your household will be encouraged to hit pause and take stock of where you are and where you’re going:

1. What is the current state of our family?
2. What does it mean for our family to be redeemed?
3. How can we take personal responsibility for our faith and our family?

If you want a healthy family now and in the future, this book can help you find a way for every family member to contribute to the spiritual growth of your home.

Raising Amazing: Bringing Up Kids Who Love God, Like Their Family, and Do the Dishes without Being Asked

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Raising Amazing combines years of research with personal stories and step-by-step, practical advice to equip you to raise kids of godly character and deep faith who love their parents and remain close to their siblings for a lifetime.

This isn’t just a book; it’s a fresh perspective on parenting that may just change the trajectory of your family forever.

Raising Confident Kids in a Confusing World: A Parent’s Guide to Grounding Identity in Christ

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This book provides much-needed biblical help for parents. It shows parents how to encourage their kids to find their identity in the fact that they are made and loved by Jesus, and it explores the implications and applications of this truth.

The foundational principles in this book mean it is ideal to read in advance of or during the early stages of parenting, but it is a useful resource at any stage of a child’s life.

Remaining You While Raising Them: The Secret Art of Confident Motherhood

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A guilt-free guide that strips away the myths you’ve believed about motherhood and offers you a new way to think—about your kids, yourself, and being the mom you’ve always wanted to be.

Raising children who are spiritually, emotionally, and physically healthy is essential, but to accomplish that heroic feat, mothers also need to be healthy in those areas. It’s time to rediscover the beauty, the joy, and the sacred and secret art of confident motherhood together.

Seen: Despair and Anxiety in Kids and Teenagers and the Power of Connection

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Not knowing how to help those dealing with difficult emotions can leave you feeling intimidated, powerless, and discouraged. It can feel scary. But we want you to know there is hope.

A beautiful convergence of faith and psychology, Seen is a quick read that uses both clinical research and real-life stories to give you—and the kids you love—hope.

Shepherding a Child’s Heart

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Written for parents with children of any age, this insightful book provides perspectives and procedures for shepherding your child’s heart into the paths of life. Shepherding a Child’s Heart gives fresh biblical approaches to child-rearing.

Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids

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This easy-to-read guide presents both a compelling rationale and a powerful strategy to show parents how to actively encourage their children’s spiritual growth so that it will stick with them into adulthood and empower them to develop a living, lasting faith.

Sticky Faith is also available in Spanish, Cómo criar jóvenes de fe sólida.

Axis

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No matter where you are on your parenting journey, the Axis community is a place for you. Whether you are facing a tough conversation with your child and don’t have the words to begin or you’re getting a jumpstart on the teenage years ahead, Axis is for you. We invite you to learn more about how to have better conversations that last a lifetime.

Christian Parenting

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Christian Parenting gives you the practical and spiritual help you need, on as many platforms and in as many ways as possible. Hundreds of thousands of parents are being transformed by our resources every day, and it’s helping people set aside perfection and actually grow into the perfectly imperfect parent they were made to be.

JRNYParent

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We believe God always designed the family unit to be strong, connected, and positioned to make disciples. This site is all about helping make that a reality for your family!

Moral Revolution | Parenting

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We believe you are the best person to talk to your kids about sex. We want you to be the one who shapes their view of themselves, God, and their sexuality. We talk about how to answer the difficult questions and how to start a conversation that continues on and ultimately leads them into a healthy, whole life.

Start the conversation. Empower your kids. Raise a generation to walk in freedom.

Parent Cue

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We believe that the most important influence in a kid’s life is a parent. There’s no one else who will impact their future and their faith more. We also know that being a parent is hard. Raising tiny humans into responsible adults who love God and love others can feel like a lot of pressure.

That’s why we created Parent Cue. In partnership with local churches, we started serving parents to help them make the most of the time they have with their kids to influence their future.

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