Our History

From the very beginning, FamilyLife has been a powerful catalyst for today's families. By offering practical, scripture-based approaches to real-world issues faced by people everyday, FamilyLife helps families become stronger as they become grounded in love.

The origins of the ministry can be traced back to 1951, when Bill and Vonette Bright founded Campus Crusade for Christ to help fulfill Christ's Great Commission – taking the gospel to every nation. Starting on one college campus with one couple, Campus Crusade has grown into a multi-faceted organization with tens of thousands of people serving in more than 196 countries.

In 1976, Campus Crusade expanded its outreach to young families with the creation of Family Ministry, which focused on providing pre-marriage seminars to its staff members. Co-founders of the new organization included Dennis and Barbara Rainey, Don and Sally Meredith, and Mick and Hellen Yoder.

From this simple beginning, Family Ministry grew and transformed. Married staff members saw the value in the work and asked for seminars on marriage. In 1978, in response to demand from community leaders, pastors and couples throughout the country, Family Ministry (now known as FamilyLife) opened its pre-marriage and marriage conferences to the public. We have been offering these tools for change ever since.

With each year and with each event, we are continually reminded that people throughout the world are very receptive to the FamilyLife message of love and hope. We've experienced phenomenal growth since we offered our first pre-marriage conferences more than 30 years ago. For details on our development, check out our timeline. You'll discover key highlights that showcase how FamilyLife's reach has grown each decade.

FamilyLife History Timeline
(PDF files - approximately 1MB each)

1970's 1976 1978       1980's 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990's 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000's 2000 2002 2004