Along with our fellow Christians on the island, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is feeling the pain of families in Bermuda as they find themselves reeling from one crisis to another. The Bible says, "If one member suffers, we all suffer together." (I Corinthians 12:26). The recent murder trials and other family violence have left us asking the question "Is there a balm in Gilead? Is there no physician to heal the pain?" (Jeremiah 8:22).

We therefore, the churches in the Bermuda Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, commit ourselves anew to strengthening the family units of our society through nurture and by:

?Nagging authorities to stand against family-destroying (a) habits, such as gambling, smoking, drinking and drugs; (b) activities, such as gangs and the unlawful use of guns and other weapons; (c) practices, such as misconduct by prison, customs, and police officers, lawyers and judges.

? Urging safe sex, namely (a) close relationships that stop short of sexual intercourse; (b) staying a virgin till marriage; (c) marrying an uninfected partner; (d) staying faithful to one partner for life, neither partner ever injecting drugs. We will be caring and nonjudgmental for those with HIV.

? Resisting redefinitions of family. While God's Word does not countenance homosexual practices, we welcome to our church persons with homosexual and heterosexual orientations, supporting both in their struggle for sexual purity, recognising that orientation need not become practice.

? Training our children in the way they should go. We recognize that children need someone to love them with an unconditional commitment. We will be vigilant with what our children eat, listen to, and watch. We will be firm with their education, entertainment, discipline, and friends.

? Uncovering abuse in all its forms. Child abuse, elder abuse, sexual abuse. Verbal abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse. Bullying, molestation, prostitution. Sexual harassment, sexual coercion, rape. Acquaintance rape, date rape, marital rape. We commit ourselves to rescuing our children.

? Recommending premarital counseling for all couples, marriage enrichment seminars on a regular basis, and counseling for the hurting. We strongly oppose non-biblical divorce and remarriage, adultery, fornication, cohabitation, unwed child-bearing, bestiality, pornography, and polygamy.

?Exhorting fathers to be responsible for their children. Fatherlessness is more than the physical absence of a father; it is also a father who is physically present but emotionally detached. We stress that boys need fathers to model manhood and girls need fathers to facilitate womanhood.

"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the NURTURE and admonition of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4

Jeffrey O. Brown Ph.D., is President and Family Ministries Director of the Bermuda Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church