As a group of people who are being transformed by the gospel and who are called to be ministers of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18–20), the local church should be the ideal community for highly relational nurturing of hurting individuals and families.2 But reality often falls far short of the ideal. Typically, the biggest challenge that ministries face is an insufficient number of people who are willing to invest the time and energy that it takes to walk through time with a needy individual or family.
