The Family by Design

The Family By Design is written to guide Christians in becoming “doers of the Word” in the sphere of family life.  It covers a wide range of topics – from personality to sexuality, from finances to friendship, from child raising to care for the elderly, from singleness to marriage. There are many wonderful books on all these topics, but most are like telescopes, having a very narrow field of vision, like marriage, or even more magnified, like communication in marriage. This book broadens the field of vision to a binocular level. It doesn’t seek to say everything that could be said on each topic – the telescope level.  Nor does it seek to cover every topic pertaining to the Christian life in general – a reading glasses level. The Family By Design addresses all the major areas pertaining to living out a Biblical worldview in the sphere of family.  It aims for succinct and spot-on Biblical teaching combined with practical relevance.  It inspires life-application!


The book is perfect for college courses on the family, pre-marital counselees, teen and adult ministries, discipleship ministries seeking to establish new believers in a Biblical worldview, and training courses for future church leaders. It includes worldview surveys with each chapter to help each reader evaluate his or her own family through a Biblical lens. An optional Culmination Project may be completed which guides the reader to evaluate the past and plan for a future of honoring God through family.


Ryan Ward teaches at Montana Bible College in Bozeman, Montana. His courses include Family Development, Biblical Peacemaking, Applied Bible Study Methods, Preaching, Youth Ministry, and various individual Bible books. He and his wife, Andrea, have two children. The Wards are passionate about doing ministry as a family.