“When you care for the family, you change the world.”

The church today is filled with broken families and yet they have very few resources for how to help them heal and change this pattern of brokenness. We want to equip church leaders - pastors, staff, leaders, parents, volunteers - with the tools to meet the needs of their congregations and develop these four aspects:

  Strong Marriages

  Confident Parents

  Empowered Kids

  Healthy Leaders

Along with you, we want to help build a grass roots movement that changes the trajectory of families, parenting and marriages around the world.

Mission Statement

The HomeWord Center for Youth and Family at Azusa Pacific University seeks to advance the work of God in the world by educating, equipping, and encouraging parents and churches to build God-honoring families from generation to generation.

“Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

The Story 

In response to the overwhelming needs of parents and families, Jim Burns founded HomeWord in 1985.  He established four strategies to help adults help kids:

• HomeWord Radio – HomeWord reaches over a million parents a day through a 30-minute daily radio program being broadcast in most of our country’s largest cities and a one-minute radio commentary that is being broadcast in over 800 cities. Offering help and hope, HomeWord Radio is our mouthpiece to the world.
• HomeWord.com – Every month tens of thousands of parents visit HomeWord.com for advice and resources. A truly interactive web site, HomeWord.com is an on-line ministry of support for parents, grandparents and youth leaders.
• HomeWord Resources – More than a million resources for parents, children and youth workers have been translated into 17 languages on 6 continents.
• HomeWord Events – Parenting and marriage events educate and encourage parents, provide answers to life’s most important questions.

In 2009, Azusa Pacific University and HomeWord came together as strategic partners to form the HomeWord Center for Youth and Family, two strong organizations with similar values bonding together to become even more effective. 

In December of 2010, Doug Fields, a national expert in the field of youth and family, joined the HomeWord team as the senior director for the center, adding a greater depth of communication and leadership. The opportunity to put two leaders together with such passion, influence and impact has never been done in family ministry.   Working alongside churches throughout Southern California and across the U.S., their goal is to help families nationwide have healthy relationships, from this generation to the next. 

Working with HomeWord, Azusa Pacific developed a Master of Arts in Youth and Family Ministry, as well as strategic conferences and seminars to help develop effective individuals and leaders in family ministry, youth ministry, and marriage and student leadership. The HomeWord Center for Youth and Ministry at Azusa Pacific is one of the nation's leaders in family ministry.