Marriage is the Most Urgent Ministry Gap for the Church
[Copied with permission from Communio.org]
Family Decline Drives Faith Decline
Americans—especially younger Americans—are falling away from faith at alarming rates. The primary factor behind this mass exodus from religion appears to be the collapse in family structure.
The rates of those reporting to be religiously unaffiliated are growing dramatically from one generation to the next. The rise of the Religious “Nones”: 36% are Millenials. 23% are Gen X. 17% are Boomers [Source: Pew Research Center 2014]
Family Structure is Key for Passing on the Faith to Children
Millennials from married homes are 78% more likely to attend church than peers from unmarried homes.
A parents’ marriage has a massive, lifelong impact on whether their kids practice Christianity as adults. Those from married homes across the last three generations regularly attend church at nearly the same rate. [Source: 2018 American Political and Social Behavior survey]
Faith is Falling Because the Family is in Freefall
40% of all births in the United States occur outside of marriage. [Institute for Family Studies]
54% of children born in the U.S. reach their 17th birthday without a married mom and dad in the home. [MARRI, The Catholic University of America]
However We Have A Great Opportunity: Closing the Gap in Relationship Ministry
Communio.org commissioned a Barna Survey to understand where Evangelical, Catholic, and Mainline churches are allocating their ministry time and resources. The study found that marriage and relationship ministry is a big gap within American churches. Closing this gap is the largest cultural health opportunity.
72% of all churches in America lack a substantive marriage ministry.
74% of all churches have no ministry for newlyweds helping them through their first critical years of marriage.
93% of churches do not offer any ministries for singles. This is a huge opportunity area to encourage healthy habits around dating or finding the right spouse for marriage.
85% of all churches in America report spending 0% of their ministry dollars on marriage and relationship ministries.
What can you do? If your church is not yet using the Sponsor Couple ™ approach to help couples prepare for marriage, contact Rob Ruhnke at 210-557-3660 to learn how For Better & For Ever ™ can easily help your church to start engaging and enriching the families of your parish. To learn more about how your church can grow its membership and support marriages through a Full-Circle Relationship Ministry®. Communio is a nonprofit ministry that equips churches with a strategic framework, proven ministry and outreach strategies, and marketing services to transform parishes into hubs for marital and relationship health in their communities.