From 18th to 21st July 2023, Karnataka Theological College in Mangalore (India) held a workshop on “Homiletics and Family Counselling”, supported by the Evangelical Mission in Solidarity. The workshop was organized by an experienced team led by Rev. Dr. Alfred Stephens, Retired Professor, TTS, Madurai and Rev Dr. Jacob Cherian, Active Clinical Counselling Practitioner and expertise, Kottayam along with distinguished resource persons such as Rev. Vinayalal Bangera and Rev. Dr. Sandeep Theophil. 

The workshop covered a practical training in various styles of preaching, such as parabolic sermon and contextual sermons. It explored the art of crafting sermons. At the same time, it offered an introduction to family councelling. The 55 participants engaged in interactive activities to develop their listening and understanding abilities, essential for effective communication within families. They learned to differentiate between normal conflict and neurotic conflict and gained insights into major concepts in family counselling through practical role plays and interactive sessions and feedback. 

The churches observe with concern the worldwide increase of violence in society. Family counselling is an important contribution of the churches to accompany families in conflict and to combat domestic violence. Therefore, the EMS supports such training in its member churches.