Our History

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.

Soon, community leaders and pastors found out about the seminars, and they expressed that it was exactly what every couple needs – the blueprints on how to build a strong home. Family Ministry, now FamilyLife, opened the Weekend to Remember to the public in 1978.

Ten years later, in 1988, Campus Crusade Canada (since renamed Power to Change) began hosting conferences. With humble beginning in Edmonton, AB using video tapes of the US conferences, the events spread across Canada. Eventually the videos were replaced by live speaker couples. Twenty years later, tens of thousands of couples have attended FamilyLife Conferences in various locations across the nation.

The ministry of FamilyLife is not limited to weekend conferences. We now offer a variety of one-day conferences, including A Day Together and our Parenting Event – Legacy: Your 21^st Century Parenting Game Plan.

FamilyLife Canada, a division of Power to Change, is headquartered in Langley, BC.