National charity Care for the Family is urging churches to use family issues as opportunities to engage with their communities.

This call to action is the theme of a brand new day conference called Engage!, which takes place in Manchester on April 28.

Church and Community Manager, Rev Richard Hardy, is passionate about seeing churches get to grips with community issues. "For too long we have failed to reach out into our neighbourhoods by talking about the things that really matter to people. After spending many years in local ministry myself, I'm convinced our failure to address real life issues is the root cause of the church's marginalisation in our society."

Rev Hardy gave the example of a man who came to his church one Sunday.

"He was in dire straits with addiction, marriage and money issues, and we were his last hope. His words to me were: 'I've tried everything else so I thought what have I got to lose? I'll try God.' He wasn't very hopeful.

"That's the attitude of many people who are struggling today - why would they look to the church for support? How could the church possibly help them?"

Engage! aims to provide churches with simple and effective ways to reach out into local communities and engage those who usually have little or no contact with church. With a line up of key speakers sharing their expertise on different elements of family life, Engage! intends to inspire everyone interested in meeting community needs when it comes to family issues.

Topics covered at Engage! will include:
• encouraging ways to motivate church membership
• easy fundraising to make sure your ideas happen
• the nuts and bolts of what works from people 'on the ground'
• ways to transform 'good works' into lasting relationships
• specialist advice and support for family situations

'Every Step Counts' by Christine and Tony Tufnell, the first book to address the unique challenges of stepfamily life from a UK perspective, will be launched at Engage! Delegates will also receive a voucher reserving them a free copy of Engage! - The Manual due to be published later this year.

Richard Hardy believes Engage! may prove to be the turning point for many churches as they seek to address their communities in a relevant and dynamic way. He has personal experience of how dealing with real-life issues can make all the difference in the lives of people who come into contact with church.

"For that man, we were his last hope," he explains. "It took five years for him to get his life sorted out - to get his relationships and his finances straight. If we had never engaged with him - offered him practical help without judging him, patronising him or making him feel like a lonely loser - then he would have left disappointed with the church - and with God.

"And he would never have come to faith himself," says Richard.

Engage! takes place at King's Church, Sidney Street, Manchester M1 7HB, on Saturday 28 April from 10am - 4.30pm.

Tickets cost £30 and there is a group booking offer of 4 tickets for the price of 3. Tickets can be ordered online at www.careforthefamily.org.uk/engage, by calling (029) 2081 0800, or by post from Care for the Family, Garth House, Freepost (CF4636), Cardiff CF15 7GZ