Family Ministries

Karen M. Flowers

Karen Marie Christoffel Flowers has been a family ministries specialist at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists since 1980, first in the capacity of assistant director of the Home and Family Service, as associate director in the Department of Church Ministries (1985-1995) and, since 1995, as co-director of the Department of Family Ministries. A gifted teacher, she prefers the team approach to family ministries with her husband, and together they give leadership to the world program for Family Ministries. They have traveled in some 70 countries, developing leadership and establishing the departmental infrastructure for a specialized ministry to families.

Karen Christoffel grew up in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She majored in English and Secondary Education at Andrews and, following her marriage to Ron Flowers and their move to the Southern New England Conference, she threw herself into the busy world of a pastor's wife, visiting members, giving Bible studies, offering the hospitality of her home, and working to build up children's Sabbath Schools.

She is the mother of two sons, Jeffrey, who is married to Pamela Rouse and directs a micro-credit program for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in Azerbaijan, and Jonathan, who is a Ph.D. candidate at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California.

Her special interest in work for families began with her own efforts to become more effective in her marriage and her parenting. She became certified in two nationally recognized programs: Parent Effectiveness Training and Systematic Training for Effective Parenting. She also encouraged her husband to participate with her in an Adventist Marriage Enrichment seminar. They became excited about ministry for couples and families and began to develop materials and programs together as part of their pastoral work in Washington, D.C. Their efforts drew the attention of the General Conference Home and Family Service and they were invited to join the General Conference staff in special work for families. She worked part-time during their sons' elementary years, but when they entered boarding academy, she accepted full-time employment.

From 1988 to 1990, in addition to her Family Ministries responsibilities, she served as chair of the General Conference Women's Ministries Advisory during a period prior to the establishment of this work as an office at the General Conference. Her major contribution to Women's Ministries at that time was her landmark survey, "The Role of Women in the Church," completed in 1989, in which nearly 2,000 women employed by the Seventh-day Adventist denomination were surveyed regarding their attitudes toward the church and their work for it. This study raised awareness around the world of the contributions of women and led to further developments in Women's Ministries. She continues to serve on the General Conference Women's Ministries Advisory Committee.

Karen has authored or co-authored more than 50 journal articles on marriage, parenting, and family life, with many of her pieces appearing in the Adventist Review and other denominational journals. She authored the teacher's helps for A Song of Love, adult Sabbath School lessons on the Song of Solomon studied by the world church during the fourth quarter of 1992. She has co-authored and edited more than 30 major resources for Family Ministries, including New Beginnings: Family Ministries Planbook 2000 (AdventSource, 2000), and is a co-author with her husband of Love Aflame (Review and Herald, 1992). She has received the distinction of Certified Family Life Educator from the National Council on Family Relations (1990) and a similar distinction from Andrews University (1991). In 1994 she gave tireless oversight to the Adventist Church's involvement in the International Year of the Family (IYF). Largely due to persistent efforts at reporting and carefully cultivating the relationship with the United Nations Office for IYF, the Seventh-day Adventist Church received a distinguished award from the U.N. in recognition of the church's participation in family strengthening activities during the designated year.

A prolific reader and avid student of the family, Karen has an M.A. in Religious Education with an emphasis in family life education from Andrews University and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Religious Education at Andrews University with a family life specialty. Her creative energy finds expression in numerous programs and projects that maintain Adventist family ministry on the cutting edge of development, such as the leadership she gave to the first international study of the Adventist family in the "Adventist Family Survey," launched in 1994 and carried out in parts of 7 world divisions. Beginning in 1995, she has spearheaded the GC Department of Family Ministries' efforts in the arena of consciousness-raising regarding abuse and family violence and identifying appropriate means within the church for prevention and intervention. She is a member of the Bi-national Advisory Committe for the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence based in Seattle, Washington.

In her local congregation at the Capital Memorial Seventh-day Adventist Church in Washington, D.C., Karen is an ordained local elder and takes an active part in church life including her service co-leading with Ron the Family Ministries Department, teaching adult Sabbath School classes, assisting with Children's Sabbath Schools, and singing on the Praise Team. Within this full life, she still finds time for reading, writing, needle work, gardening, and sharing Scripture with others, especially the topic of the good news of the gospel. So, while she is a talented author, a world-renowned lecturer on the family, and a wise counselor, many know her simply as a valued friend.