A Marriage Ministry in Every Church - by FamilyLife (A Cru Ministry)

Our God-sized dream is to see a marriage ministry in every church. Why? Because from beginning to end, the Bible uses the metaphor of marriage to communicate God’s faithful, sacrificial, forgiving, and covenantal love! When couples live with the hope of the Gospel, and rely on Jesus to transform their hearts, it becomes much more natural for them to share the Good News with enthusiasm and conviction, because they are living it. 

We long to see churches multiply their impact in evangelism and discipleship by cultivating strong, Christ-like marriages. But this doesn’t happen on its own. All marriages are prone to drift and must be shepherded and discipled along the way, and the local church is the perfect place for that to happen! Marriage will never be more important in the home than it is in the church.  But only 28% of churches in America have a substantive marriage ministry. And of those, most focus on pre-marital and crisis-care, but often miss the equally important need for enrichment in between. Brad Rhoads, founder of Grace Marriage, says, “Ongoing marriage ministry is like taking your marriage to the gym, so it never has to go to the hospital.” 

So, it grieves us when we hear stories like this:

“We recently connected with a friend from over 40 years ago. When we were young marrieds, we’d share a Bible study every Friday night; they were an amazing Christian couple. Fast forward 40+ years, and she ran off with another man and when that broke up, she became homeless. Her first husband tried to help but she doesn’t want any help. It struck me how important your ministry is.  Keep shining for Christ.” 

We are thankful that the Lord is graciously providing opportunities for us to help churches take steps to start marriage ministries. FamilyLife’s Marriage Ministry Workshop is a 3.5-hour workshop designed to guide a church through the process of planning and implementing a sustainable, tailor-made marriage ministry for, and by, their people. One participant said, “This workshop helped our ministry team move forward in a focused way. Enabling us to take the right next steps to enrich marriages at our church.”

We believe God is calling the church to reclaim HIS plan for marriage!

Is God inviting you to be a marriage champion?  You don’t have to have a perfect marriage (there are none) or even be married. He’s looking for people with a passion for God-honoring marriage, a desire to grow in understanding of the Good News of Jesus, and a willingness to help others do the same.