Healthy Marriages and Healthy Kids | Part 1

The longer I work with kids the more convinced I become that the foundation of an effective children’s ministry is a strong focus on strengthening and supporting marriages.  Healthy marriages lead to healthy homes and healthy homes provide the secure base kids need for emotional and spiritual health.

I don’t have Barna certified statistics, just years of watching the same story play out over and over again.  Kids that come from homes where there is marital peace and a common since of mission and purpose do well.  They are more confident, they navigate peer pressure more effectively, and they develop a faith that sticks.

We have all heard that statistics that upwards of 70-80 percent of kids leave the church after High School.  For years I have focused on creating solutions to overcome these statistics, only to realize that I have been treating the symptoms and not the underlying problem.  Kids leaving the church is a symptom not a problem.  It’s like putting a Band-Aid over a cut that needs stitches.  It may make the cut look better, but the cut won’t heal right if not given proper care.

I am beginning to see that one of the reasons 70-80 percent of kids leave the church after High School is that upwards of 70-80 percent of marriages in our churches are in trouble.  Parents live at odds with each other, they lack mission and purpose, or they have given up and settled for divorce.

What are your thoughts on how your Children’s and Family Ministry can help strengthen and empower couples?  What are your thoughts on the importance of healthy marriages and the role the church should play?

Over the next couple weeks I will share some initiatives I have been working on in my church community, I would love to hear any thoughts you might have as we seek, together, to raise spiritually healthy kids.

KB