About Us

INTENTIONAL FAMILY PROJECT HISTORY:

Over the past 60 years, the advent of the pluralistic family has allowed for the flexibility families need to adjust to the demands of contemporary life; yet, the rise of pluralism has also impacted family well-being in real and dynamic ways. There are few, if any, remaining social scripts that provide families with a roadmap for how to do family life well. There are no social or cultural boundaries that help families create margin or space to consider their collective goals, values, and processes. The rapid, chaotic pace of modern life has made it difficult, if not impossible, for contemporary families to determine and practice healthy family processes for achieving family goals. The fast pace of contemporary life often leaves families with little time to think of or plan their next step. Families perpetually live in survival mode state where “fight, flight, or freeze” are the only tenable options.

In 2015, Karen Melton and Nicole McAninch started the Intentional Family Project to research how families were keeping their identity in the midst of a pluralistic culture. The IF Project aims to create compelling scholarship that mobilizes informed students, practitioners, and leaders who are committed to empowering families to be good stewards of their time, money, and relationships. We believe family well-being is developed by encouraging families to review their core values, the foundation on which their family is built, to consider the great things they could be doing.

Baylor. Baylor was “established to be a servant of the church and of society.” By method of research, scholarship and publication, teaching, and service to the community, the Intentional Family Project seeks to fulfill this call by engaging the academic and professional community in a transdisciplinary task that will transform the conversation on Christian family life. In this way, the IF Project is engaged in compelling scholarship that will help us create materials for informed engagement, where we will partner with committed constituents for the purpose of creating excellence in the quality of the resources being provided to Christian families by the Christian community; in this, we are engaged in judicious stewardship.

SUPPORT:

We are grateful for the following organizations, foundations, and councils that have generously supported the Intentional Family Project to conduct research and disseminate findings. Opinions, findings, conclusion or recommendations expressed within this work do not necessarily reflect the views of these supporters.