SEMINAR PROGRAM

Dr Bruce & Nellie Litchfield

Family in Need

Families are under attack as never before and in every country families are increasingly deviating from God's original blueprint set out in the Bible. The two regions of the world where this is most pronounced are Eastern Europe and Russia (the former Soviet countries) and Sub-Sahara Africa. God has placed in our hearts a deep passion to seek to help in these regions through family ministry. China is also a country of great need in relation to the family. We believe God has directed us to these places and we expect a rich harvest for Him - glory to his name.

The Eastern European and former Soviet countries have the highest divorce, abortion and alcohol addiction rates in the world with the accompanying family dysfunction and breakdown. Sexual addiction and AIDS are also very high. Vodka is cheap and freely available. Drinking it is part of the culture. The need everywhere is igreat and there are not many available to help.

The Sub-Sahara nations in Africa have the greatest family needs in the world. Every family dysfunction imaginable is widespread in all these countries. This region has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancy in the world reaching 40 percent of the population in some countries, the status of women is very low, domestic violence and child abuse is rampant, polygamy is common, sexual immorality is very high, orphaned children and teenage pregnancy are the highest in the world, female circumcision is still widely practiced, problems with street kids and drug addiction are rapidly increasing.

We also conduct seminars on family issues and counselling in other places such as Australia, China, Korea, Canada, Norway, Israel, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, but our main focus of ministry is in the areas of greatest need - Eastern Europe, Africa and China.

Our Strategy

Former Soviet Countries

We believe God has called us to go to Eastern Europe and other parts of the former Soviet Union each year to teach and help in the areas of family and addiction. This involves addressing non-Christian groups such as health professionals, schools, medical clinics, universities and public seminars and also Christian groups. We also seek exposure through the media wherever possible.

In addressing the non-Christian groups we seek to plant seeds, encourage interest in spiritual things, give our testimonies and witness whenever possible. Four of our books, Let’s Stand Up Straight, Standing Up Straight (Christian and non-Christian books on addiction), How to Talk with Your Child about Sex and Happy Families, have been published in Russian and are freely circulated wherever we go.

We have ministered in Russia (Rostov on Don, Volgograd, Archangelsk, Murmansk, Naryan Mar, Vladivostok, Petropavlosk Kamkatchy), Ukraine (Kiev, Kharkiv, Sevastapol, Simferipol, Donetsk, Lutsk), Belarus (Minsk), Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Kazikstan (Almaty), Armenia and Mongolia.

The planning of these programs is largely done through YWAM bases located in these countries.

Africa

Since we received the vision to go and minister in Africa in 2001 we have been able to teach in Ghana (Accra), Kenya (Nairobi and Mombassa), Uganda (Kampala, Jinja, Soroti, Bugembi, Mbale, Masaka, Lake Victoria Islands, and many other towns and villages), Tanzania (Arusha and Kilimanjaro), Rwanda (Kigali), Republic of Congo (Bukavu, Isiro and Ibambi), South Africa (Worcester), Nigeria (Port Harcourt) and Liberia (Monrovia).

Bruce also visited Zambia in 1996 with a large medical team representing the Christian Medical and Dental Society of USA, and did oral surgery in the seven major prisons in the country and preached the gospel to the inmates each evening.

The seven parts of the family ministry work in Africa are:

1. Pioneering, leading and teaching in YWAM Family Ministry Schools (FMS) and Foundations of Family Life Seminars (FFLS) in strategic locations. These are intensive five month training programs in family restoration and training in family ministry.

2. Teaching in public seminars, churches, on national TV and radio, Rotary Clubs, schools, orphanages, and anywhere else we can, on family values, marriage, parenting, sexuality, addiction, family communication, family counselling, preventive health, and Christian leadership.

3. Leading annual YWAM short-term missions from Australia for three weeks of family ministry. Part of the reason why we conduct these missions to Africa is to assist Australian Christians to get out of their affluent comfort zones and minister to the poor and needy in such disadvantaged countries, which Scripture strongly exhorts us to do (Isaiah 58:6-12, Matthew 25:35-46, Matthew 28:19, Luke 4:18, 18:12, James 2:14-15)

4. Establishing and assisting the Ugandan Institute of Family Counselling (UIFC) in the conducting of counselling and family therapy courses.

5. Printing our books on family values and counselling in Africa and distributing them widely – Happy Families, Let’s Stand Up Straight, How to Talk with your child about Sex, Christian Counselling and Family Therapy training volumes.

6. Fund-raising in Australia to assist students do these courses.

7. Donate to family ministry projects such as orphanages, etc.

China

We believe that we are being directed more to China in the future. In 2009 we plan to visit Hong Kong, Taiwan and Lanzchou (in central China) for family ministry.

Publication and distribution of Books

Everywhere we go we widely distribute our books, some of which have been printed in Korean, Russia and Ugandan:

Let's Stand up Straight, which deals with unhealthy dependencies,

Happy Families, which sets out the biblical principles of healthy family life, marriage, parenting, sexuality, communication, addiction, and restoration from family dysfunction,

How to Talk with your Child about Sex, a sex education manual for parents and teachers.

Christian Counselling and Family Therapy (Eight Volumes), a comprehensive systematic series on Christian counselling and family therapy.