Michelle Anthony
David C. Cook, 2015, 208 pp., $11.99
“When we pursue Jesus, we get the abundant life. When we pursue the abundant life, we get dysfunction.” Michelle Anthony goes straight to the heart of parents and confronts them with the gospel in Becoming a Spiritually Healthy Family: Avoiding the 6 Dysfunctional Parenting Styles. Through her experience in family ministry, she has identified six common dysfunctions of parenting and aims to direct each type of dysfunction back to the gospel, which is the only thing that can create a spiritually healthy family.
In each chapter, she discusses different dysfunctions such as a “Double Minded Parent,” “The I Can’t Say No Parent,” “The Driver Parent,” “The Micro-Managing Parent,” “The Criticizing Parent,” and “The Absentee Parent.” In each chapter, Anthony doesn’t waste time providing self-help for each type of parent, but addresses the heart issues at the root of each of those dysfunctions. Each chapter is filled with examples to help readers diagnose their common tendencies, Scripture to explain why the dysfunctions dishonor the Lord, and a call to repentance. Concluding each chapter, she provides discussion questions to be considered in private meditation or between spouses.
Becoming a Spiritually Healthy Family is a tremendous resource for anyone in children’s, youth or family ministry. Pastors will enjoy reading and having this book on their shelf so they can look to it when preparing to counsel families. It also would be a great book to have extra copies of so that pastors can resource families with it. God was glorified and the gospel was proclaimed in Anthony’s writing.
