In the midst of the crisis over traditional marriage and family structure, Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) Canada will hold a series of family education seminars to protect marriages.
According to CCC Canada, the "FamilyLife Marriage Conference" is designed to equip couples with proven principles for strengthening their marriage. Not only do couples learn God's blueprint for marriage and family, but the conference also gives them the time to immediately apply what they learn. Many couples leave the conference understanding for the first time how two selfish people can live together and love one another for a lifetime.
The programs for "FamilyLife Marriage Conference" are being renewed for 2006. The upcoming Mandarin-speaking conference will be held on Jan. 1-8 while the Cantonese-speaking one will be held on Feb. 17-19 at the Radisson Hotel, Richmond, British Columbia. A lot of English sessions are to be hosted from February to May at different locations in Canada as well.
"This is the first time we've had any teaching on what is a Godly marriage. We've always had a stress filled marriage, not exemplary at all. Lots of unresolved issues and hurts in part to not accepting of my spouse. I found the idea that God is bigger than all my mistakes very helpful," an anonymous couple who have got married for 13 years shared, after attending the conference last year.
"After hearing more messages and spending time with the Curries we asked God's and each other's forgiveness. We left the conference with changed hearts and the tools that we need to work on rebuilding our marriage," another participant said.
"FamilyLife Marriage Conference" is not a brand-new concept. Since 1978, CCC Canada has started the English-speaking conference and has successfully helped many families in Canada to recover and rebuild the relationship between spouses as well as that between family members.
The Cantonese-speaking and Mandarin speaking conferences first emerged in 2001 and 2002 respectively. And in 2003, a seven-member "Chinese FamilyLife" was formally established to serve the huge Chinese communities in Canada.
According to the latest Canadian Census at 2001, around 18 percent of the total population in Vancouver is Chinese whereas around 10 percent in Toronto. However, Statistics Canada forecasts that more than half of Torontonians and Vancouverites will likely be members of a visible minority, by the time Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2017.
Especially in Toronto, there will be more than one million will be South Asians and more than 735,000 Chinese by 2017, meaning that more than half of Canada's South Asians and about 40 percent of Canada's Chinese will be living in Toronto.
