The Family Crisis Caused the Faith Crisis: Marriage Now the Most Urgent Ministry Gap in the Church

[Pelican Press 0]

The Family Crisis Caused the ****** Crisis: Marriage Now the Most Urgent Ministry Gap in the *******

ANALYSIS

People are falling away from ****** at alarming rates. 
 
One example is evident in a recent

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, which stated, “The percentage of adults who report regularly attending religious services ******** low. Three in 10 Americans say they attend religious services every week or almost every week (9%), while 11% report attending about once a month and 56% seldom or 31% never attend.” 

******* decline over the last 40 years in the ******* States has prompted numerous explanations advanced by experts, pastors and ******* leaders, most of which are either wrong or, at best, incomplete. 
 
The ****** crisis facing churches and denominations nationwide was fueled by the collapse of the family at home. 
 
Let me explain the severity of the problem. Research from The Marriage and Religion Research Initiative shows that most adults under 35 today were not raised in a household with married parents. In contrast, the 1970 U.S. Census shows 40 percent of U.S. households were married with children under 18 living in the home. As of 2023, that number dropped to 17.9%. 
 
This tragic collapse in marital love fuels a legion of other social ills – from shorter life spans to generational ******** to increased mental illness and the epidemic of loneliness.  
 
Our ministry’s Nationwide Study on ****** and Relationships found that four out of five (80%) of those in ******* on Sunday grew up in a home where mom and dad stayed married.  
 
Yet, amidst these crises, our ministry,

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, has found a troubling trend within the local *******: the dire need to see the crucial role that strong marriages play within the health of their ******* and, by extension, their communities. 
 
Marriage is the most urgent ministry gap in the ******* today.  
 
A survey by Barna Research, commissioned by our ministry, found 72% of all ********* churches lack a substantive marriage ministry, while 74% have no ministry for newlyweds to help them through their first critical years of marriage. Additionally, 93% of churches don’t offer any ministries for singles. 
 
This marriage ministry gap includes single people too – helping singles discern and express love in relationships that can more frequently lead to a healthy, ******-filled marriage. 
 
To stop and reverse this flight from ******, gospel-centered ******* leaders must see this issue for what it is. We need a new path and approach toward ministry and evangelism that addresses the true root of the issue. 
 
Simply put, when it comes to marriage, the ********* ******* needs a metanoia mindset shift. 
 
“Metanoia” is a strong word, I know. First used in Matthew 3:2, it’s often translated as “repentance,” a turning away from sin and turning to ****. As believers, we know that following ****** requires all of us to embrace true “metanoia.” That aspect of turning from one thing and turning toward another on a deeper level is a transformation in our thoughts and actions. The ******* needs to turn away from current, ineffective evangelism efforts and toward transforming their marriage and relationship ministries. 
 
We’ve seen time and time again, that when a ******* becomes intentional and strategic in nurturing strong marriages, they see strengthened families as shockwaves of ****** surge through ******* families, where *******-like love of earthly fathers glorifies our Heavenly Father, impacting the next generation. 
 
Communio’s goal is to see this metanoia mind-shift in ******* leaders and ******* members spilling out into communities around churches and drawing people into a life-changing relationship with ****** *******. 
 
Through our ministry’s close work with churches across the nation, we’ve identified several barriers obstructing this metanoia mindset shift and found an incredible solution.  
 
As believers, we know the ****** is real and he has been hard at work to ******** ****** in ****** *******. He has exacted the most extensive damage to ****** by deconstructing ****’s salvific icons of fatherhood, marriage and biblical sexuality.  
 
Yet, here’s some good news – ******’s plan goes against how **** hard-wired humanity. All the best science shows that people are made for life-long relationships. ****** cannot triumph over one of ****’s first creations, the sacred institute of marriage. 

So, what would happen if the ******* mobilized to create a *******-centered, relationship revolution? 
 
I think we’d see every gospel-centered ******* become an evangelizing hub where people ******* to enter and form healthy, ****-honoring relationships. At the local level, we’d see more people coming to ****** in ******, more *******-centered marriages forming and enduring, more healthy marriages thriving and more children grow up to become adults who repeat the ****-ordained masterpiece of “family.”  
 
J.P. De Gance is the founder and president of

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, a nonprofit ministry that trains and equips churches to share the Gospel through the renewal of healthy relationships, marriages and the family. He is the co-author of “Endgame: The *******’s Strategic Move to Save ****** and Family in America.” 
 

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#Family #Crisis #Caused #****** #Crisis #Marriage #Urgent #Ministry #Gap #*******

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