Understanding Anxiety
What it is, how to get support, and how to make sense of it as a Christian. To view the supporting slides, click here.
Families Flourishing Workshops
Recent Series
Anxious & Loved
Children of God experience anxiety. Scripture portrays faithful people of God experiencing fear, distress, anxiety, and panic, including Hannah, King David, the prophets Elijah and Jeremiah, the apostle Paul, and Jesus. God’s care and shepherding of them did not involve platitudes like “Too blessed to be stressed!” or “Pray more!” Instead, God received their lament, confusion, and grief, providing faithful presence and care for the whole person. As we seek to walk in his ways, we want the church to be a place that normalizes distress without minimizing it, where we bear one another’s burdens in relationally safe community, and where we offer faithful presence and practical support. In July, we hosted a Wednesday night series called Anxious and Loved, where mental health professionals from our own congregation addressed three important topics related to anxiety.
Healthy Boundaries, Healthy Belonging in the New Year
Featured Speaker: Dr. Elizabeth Powell, Journeys Counseling Ministry
As we step into a new year, many of us want more than a fresh set of habits. We want real growth in Christ-likeness that shows up in our relationships, our decisions, and our peace.
Do you tend to give and appease until you’re depleted, anxious, and quietly resentful? Or do you pull back so far that you end up feeling isolated and disconnected? Sometimes we confuse people-pleasing with love or emotional distance with healthy boundaries. And we can even baptize these patterns with “Christian scripts,” telling ourselves we’re simply loving as Christ loved or guarding our hearts and redeeming the time. If any of this resonates, you’re not alone, and this workshop is for you.
This Families Flourishing workshop is a practical, hope-filled guide to becoming a more emotionally and relationally mature adult: someone who can live from a clear, God-given identity and values while staying meaningfully connected to those around you. Topics covered are:
- How to respond instead of react
- How to set healthy boundaries without guilt or shutdown (especially “Christian” guilt!)
- How to stay “you” in the middle of pressure, conflict, or criticism
We don’t have to be perfect to grow. Let’s all just take this next step together. Join us!
To view the slides, click here.
Loving Our Aging Parents (Without Losing Our Minds)
Over these two evenings, the trusted team from Oak Health Foundation will help us prepare for the upcoming holiday season, a time when family gatherings can bring both joy and strain. Together, we’ll explore: How to navigate generational, cultural, and faith differences with greater grace and peace. How to honor God by honoring and loving our parents, while maintaining healthy, culturally respectful boundaries How to understand the overlapping emotional and relational dynamics that arise when spending time with our parents.
Youth & Adolescence
We all come from a biological family. The Bible teaches that God designed the family as a safe and secure place where His covenant promises are passed down and where His ways are both taught and caught by the next generation. But Scripture—and our own stories—also show that families can be messy, imperfect places where wounds, confusion, and unmet needs take root.
Do you long for insight and practical tools to help the young people in your life grow in emotional, relational, and spiritual health? Are you walking with a young person who feels lost, anxious, or unsure of who they are? Do you ever wonder if healing is possible for the gaps in your own upbringing?
Join us for Families Flourishing: Youth & Adolescence, a four-part, faith-integrated workshop series led by youth mental health expert, April Twenhafel, LMFT, and our team.
Thriving Beyond the Grind
Is there more to modern life and relationships than an endless litany of landmines to avoid, responsibilities, activity, achievement, and pressure? How can I actually experience meaning and fulfillment in my relationships with myself, friends, my family of origin or creation, and God? Why do I struggle with feeling hollow and disconnected, or like I'm never going to be enough?
At New Life, we want to see lives changed and families flourish in the power of the Gospel. We've partnered with Oak Health Foundation, a Christian nonprofit counseling center, to help us understand how we are designed for connection, and how to begin understanding and overcoming common obstacles to healthy relationships. You'll gain practical paradigms, approaches, and skills to cultivate relationships in the image of God's secure love.