Nurturing the Grove
Every person in your family grows as their own tree, yet we are bound by shared roots and place - the grove.
Trees appear independent to the untrained eye, but beneath the surface they provide critical support to one another.
Nurturing the grove is about changing how you relate to and partner with those you rely upon and care for most.
When you're willing to make even uncomfortable changes, you open up a world of possibility yet to be cultivated.
What's possible is the chance to thrive as a family in ways you've not yet known.
So, this page is a starting point. It’s a curated library to help you grow up alongside each other, season after season.
Flourishing Relationships
We all long to be connected with others, to know and to be known. Relationships are thus the currency of life and have the biggest influence on how we’re shaped and how we then shape the world. Yet, relationships take hard work. Nature provides us with family and life naturally brings us close to others beyond our own biology, but all relationships take a little, often times a lot of nurturing to establish deep, lasting bonds with those we choose matter most.
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Boundaries — Henry Cloud & John Townsend: A foundational framework for defining where you end and others begin, and why that clarity actually strengthens relationships. As family relationships can be the most complicated, this is a good read for someone who struggles to say no or feels responsible for managing others' emotions.
The Power of TED — David Emerald: Contrasts a Victim mindset with a Creator orientation to relationships and challenges. Good for someone who feels stuck in repeating relational conflicts and wants a new lens on them. The concepts are creatively illustrated through a real life example of someone navigating life after an unwanted divorce.
The Relational Soul — Richard Plass & James Cofield: Explores how early attachment shapes adult relationships and spiritual life. Good for someone wanting to understand recurring relational patterns at a deeper, formative level.
Life Together — Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A short theological reflection on what authentic Christian community actually requires, written from Bonhoeffer's own experience running an underground seminary during WWII. Good for someone wanting a spiritually grounded, communal (not just individual) view of relationships.
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Boundaries Books - Boundaries for Kids, Dating, Marriage, Leaders, etc, etc, and etc. Lots of great books and free educational resources here for you if you liked the original book, Boundaries.
Functioning Families
Just as individual relationships take work, your family system needs nurturing as well. That looks more like building an intentional culture of shared values and rhythms, clear expectations, and routine habits repeated over time. This category is about the structures that turn a household into a functioning, thriving, multigenerational family team.
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Family Revision — Jeremy Pryor: Makes the case for restructuring family life around a shared mission and multigenerational purpose, rather than default modern patterns. Good for someone wanting to rethink family structure from the ground up, not just tweak habits.
Habits of the Household — Justin Whitmel Earley: Offers concrete daily and weekly liturgies (mealtimes, bedtime, discipline) to build intentional family rhythm. Good for someone who wants practical, repeatable routines rather than abstract philosophy.
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work — John Gottman: Research-based principles for a stable marriage, drawn from Gottman's decades of studying couples. Good for a couple wanting an evidence-based approach to strengthening their partnership specifically.
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Family Teams - We’ve had the very good fortune to begin getting to know the Pryor family in an intimate way and belong to their Family Accelerator program. We recommend them for families disheartened with the status-quo, individualistic vision of family prevalent in our culture.
The Gottman Institute - Dive further in to research-driven practices to strengthen your marriage and other relationships.
Parenting
Parenting is less about controlling outcomes and more about faithful, daily presence where you shape character through the ordinary moments, not just the big conversations. This category focuses on parenting as long-term formation rather than short-term management.
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Parenting— Paul David Tripp: Argues that parenting is fundamentally about the parent's own heart and grace, not a set of techniques for controlling behavior. Good for someone feeling like they've reduced parenting to rules and consequences and want a deeper foundation.
The Opposite of Spoiled — Ron Lieber: A practical guide to talking with kids honestly about money, work, and generosity rather than avoiding the subject. Good for a parent wanting concrete language and strategies for raising financially grounded, unentitled children, especially when in a situation of affluence.
The Intentional Father — John Tyson: A challenge and framework for fathers to move from passive presence to deliberate, purposeful engagement in shaping their son's character and faith. Good for a dad who's physically present but feels unsure whether he's actually leaving the impact he wants to leave.
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters — Meg Meeker, MD: Draws on decades of clinical pediatric practice to argue for the outsized role fathers play in daughters' confidence, identity, and resilience. Good for a father raising daughters who wants to understand his unique influence and how to use it well.
Aging Parents
Aging is natural and some of us are blessed with long lives and parents who live long lives. That blessing of course comes with it’s own challenges though and we don’t talk enough about how to manage those challenges with grace and without losing sight of the blessing. This category is about navigating that transition with honesty, practical planning, and grace.
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Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk — Cameron Huddleston: A practical guide to having difficult financial and care conversations with aging parents before a crisis forces them. Good for someone unsure how to even start the conversation with parents who resist discussing it.
Between Life and Death — Kathryn Butler, MD: A guide through the complex medical, ethical, and spiritual decisions surrounding serious illness and end-of-life care, offering a compassionate, faith-centered framework from a former ICU physician. It is especially valuable for individuals planning ahead or families facing difficult healthcare decisions who want greater clarity, confidence, and hope.
Making Good Return — Kathleen Nielson: Practical, biblical wisdom for navigating the challenges of caring for aging parents, helping you honor them with grace, compassion, and faithfulness through the later seasons of life. Especially helpful for adult children who are currently caregiving, anticipating future responsibilities, or seeking biblical guidance for making loving and wise decisions as their parents age.
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Adult Children of Aging Parents North Indy Metro Chapter — A nonprofit offering free monthly educational programs for adult children and caregivers navigating aging parents' healthcare, legal, financial, and housing decisions. Held the second Tuesday of each month in Indianapolis, sessions cover topics like Medicare, hospital discharge planning, and social isolation, giving families expert guidance, local resources, and a community of people facing similar challenges.