Care for the Family has issued a slightly unusual appeal to pew-dwellers nationwide to give their vicars the weekend off this summer so that they have the opportunity to concentrate on strengthening their own families for a change.

Bond07 weekends are a brand new event from Care for the Family and are designed especially for church leaders to spend quality time with their children.

Rev Richard Hardy, Care for the Family's Churches Manager, said that the high-pressure nature of vicars' lives meant they had little time off to spend with their own kids.

"Having spent over a decade in church ministry myself, I know how much pressure church leaders are under. It's a 24/7 job and that often means the families of church leaders are squeezed out of the picture."

He warned that the heavy demands made on vicars were having a direct impact on them and their children.

"What we are frequently seeing among church leaders is a pattern of stress and burn out, which has a huge knock-on effect to their families.

"Many 'preacher's kids' end up resenting the Christian faith as a result of hardly ever seeing their parent.

"And church leaders themselves often carry huge burdens of guilt about how little time they spend with their families."

Care for the Family has organised two Bond07 weekends for this July, each giving church leaders and their children the chance to spend time together navigating the River Wye, or learning bush craft in a remote part of Devon.

Bond07 is modelled on Care for the Family's successful 1-2-1 Challenge weekends which have helped parents forge stronger bonds for a number of years by being put through various outdoor challenges together.

"We know from what parents have told us after 1-2-1 weekends just what a difference spending a couple of days together can make," explains Rev Hardy. "We're really hopeful Bond07 will have a similar impact on the families of church leaders."

Both Bond07 weekends take place from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 July 2007.

More information and booking details from Care for the Family, Garth House, PO Box 488, Cardiff CF15 7YY, by phone on (029) 2081 0800, or online at www.careforthefamily.org.uk/holidays