Ways to establish or improve ministries to African American families and ways to make the church a training center for outreach, prevention, enrichment, and problem solving are explored. Part 1 addresses the spiritual challenge, and points out that the pastor's family is looked on as a model family, and that pastors must learn to be better spouses and parents. Part 2 discusses the training of single Christians to prepare them for successful marriage. Selecting a lifelong partner must be done with deliberation. Part of the preparation for marriage, as discussed in Part 3, is reaching financial stability. Training and knowledge can prevent, and can often resolve, the financial problems that weaken some families. Part 4 considers training one-parent families so that their children can establish stable two-parent homes. This type of communication and understanding can be taught through the churches as family training centers. Suggestions for further reading follow each chapter, but the appendixes present a list of 16 African Americans as resource persons on family issues and a list of 21 ministries and organizations for help on family issues. (Contains three figures.) (SLD)