Spilling Out

In Psalm 68, we can find words that can help remind us of God's guiding hand - as He works to manifest His presence into our lives. There's a passage that says:
4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, By His name Yah, And rejoice before Him.
5 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation.
6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

"Marriage is the most urgent ministry gap in the church today."

That is a statement from a recent piece on the CBN.com website written by someone who has been on The Meeting House in the past: J.P. De Gance, who is Founder and President of the organization, Communio, which uses research to develop strategy to strengthen marriages. 

He writes:

A survey by Barna Research, commissioned by our ministry, found 72% of all American 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, faith-filled marriage.

De Gance referenced a "recent Gallup study, which stated, 'The percentage of adults who report regularly attending religious services remains 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.'"

Then, he draws a straight line from the decline of the family to the decline of church attendance, writing:

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%.

He referenced Communio's Nationwide Study on Faith and Relationships, which, according to the piece, "found that four out of five (80%) of those in church on Sunday grew up in a home where mom and dad stayed married."

Add up the data, and I think you can find that De Gance makes a compelling case, and calls for a "metanoia" moment regarding marriage in the Church. He explains:

"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 God. As believers, we know that following Jesus 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 Church needs to turn away from current, ineffective evangelism efforts and toward transforming their marriage and relationship ministries.

Does that mean that believers shouldn't share their faith in Christ? I don't believe that's what he's saying. But, it does appear that he is calling for believers to impact that culture for the Lord through Christ-centered relationships that are "spilling out into communities around churches and drawing people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ."

De Gance asks the question, "So, what would happen if the Church mobilized to create a Christ- centered, relationship revolution?" His answer:

I think we'd see every gospel-centered church become an evangelizing hub where people desire to enter and form healthy, God-honoring relationships. At the local level, we'd see more people coming to faith in Jesus, more Christ-centered marriages forming and enduring, more healthy marriages thriving and more children grow up to become adults who repeat the God-ordained masterpiece of "family."

We are living in a fractured society - when J.P. De Gance was on my program a while back, he commented on the loneliness issue and the report by the Surgeon General about that topic. COVID plunged many into isolation, but the seeds had been planted before that.  Electronic media too easily enables us to withdraw into our own worlds and to eschew human interaction.  Brokenness has been affecting families for quite some time.

So, the two major factors here: the decline of church attendance and the decline of the family go hand-in-hand.  And, that affects the degree to which we can impact the culture.  Strong families can reflect stability and certainly help collective spirituality, so it's important that the Church is involved in building the family. I certainly see that emphasizing family harmony can help get people back in church. And, we must each develop a motivation to know God and to grow in Jesus Christ.  That will contribute to an enhanced spiritual dynamic that can transform lives through a knowledge of the Lord.