Dr. James Dobson’s pro-family, pro-gospel legacy

22 August 2025

Andrea Minichiello Williams reflects on the legacy of Dr James Dobson

I give thanks to God for the life and witness of Dr James Dobson who has been called home to glory.

I first remember finding out about him and Focus on the Family as a student at university in the 1980s and have followed his ministry and unyielding gospel witness ever since.

Dr James Dobson loved Jesus; he was a steadfast defender of the family, pointing to  marriage, parenthood, and the raising of children in the fear of the Lord as the very heart of a healthy, strong and civilised society and at the root of mature Christian discipleship.

As founder of Focus on the Family and later Family Talk, Dr Dobson brought biblical truth into homes across America and far beyond. His clear teaching, practical wisdom, and tireless advocacy helped countless parents to see that raising children in the fear of the Lord and in righteousness is not a secondary concern but a calling of eternal significance. For him, standing for the family wasn’t relegated to merely a cultural or political issue but at the root of faithfulness to Christ, and about passing on the hope of the gospel to the next generation.

As we at Christian Concern contend for family in our nation, we honour and recognise Dr Dobson’s great example in proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord over every sphere of life and to resist the erosion of God’s good design for marriage, sexuality, and family. He understood that morality and a healthy family was to be found in God’s given design, rooted in creation and fulfilled in Christ. His voice was prophetic, compassionate, and courageous.

His life reminds us that defending truth and loving people are never opposed; they belong together in the mission of the gospel.

We at Christian Concern give thanks for his witness and pray that many will rise up to follow in his footsteps, unashamed of the gospel, unyielding in truth, and unwavering in love.

  • Share

Related articles

All content has been loaded.

Take action

Join our email list to receive the latest updates for prayer and action.

Find out more about the legal support we're giving Christians.

Help us put the hope of Jesus at the heart of society.

Privacy settings

Our website uses cookies, usage analysis and other technologies. We use these tools because they help us to run our website, provide you with content (including video and audio clips), understand how people use our website, make improvements to our services, and promote our work more effectively. This means that we and selected third-party services may store cookies and other similar information on your device, and may analyse how you use our website. Some of these tools are necessary for our website to function as intended but others are optional, and you can choose whether or not to allow them. You can find out more here.

Core functionality

Certain cookies and other technologies are used on our website to provide core functionality. You can read more about this here. You may be able to use your browser settings to block these tools but if you do, our website may not function as intended.

Embedded content

To enrich your experience of this website, we embed carefully selected content from other platforms. For example, we embed video clips from our YouTube channel, and audio clips from our SoundCloud channel. These third-party platforms may store and use cookies (or similar technology) on your device, and may analyse your use of this site or the embedded content. We do not directly control what technologies they use. You can find out more here. If embedded content is disabled it may affect your experience of this website.

Analytics and promotion

This website uses tools from selected third-party providers (Google and Facebook) to help us understand how people arrive at and use our website, and to measure and improve the effectiveness of some of our promotional activity. These tools may store and use cookies (and similar information) on your device, and analyse your use of this website, and other sites and platforms. These tools help us to improve our services, reach people who may be interested in our work and make better use of our resources but information may be shared with these third-party providers and may be used for their own purposes. You can find out more here.