Yesterday I talked about the pressures that having children place on the marriages of young couples. Today I want to give some practical suggestions of ways you can minister to these families and in turn bring them into the life of the church (if they are not there already).
1. Run regular parenting seminars. Toolbox and Focus on the Family offer some great ones.
2. Run The Marriage Course regularly at your church.
3. Encourage formal and informal mentoring with older and younger married couples. My husband and I have an older couple in their 60s who we are friends with and look to as a great example of marriage. Even with both our parents being happily married after 29 and 36 years we really appreciate having a couple outside our families whom we can model ourselves off.
4. Encourage (suitable) members of your church to view babysitting as a ministry, giving parents the occasional night out together without the added cost of a babysitter.
5. See your ministry to kids as a ministry to the family. When you run socials see if you can schedule them so they give the parents a break, even if it's only for an hour or two.
6. Run a ministry to women at home with kids during the day. A Biblestudy that helps them connect with God's word and each other and to see how the two are connected is invaluable!
These are my "top 6" suggestions. What else do you do or want to suggest as ways to help nuture the marriages of young families in your church?
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Thanks for visiting Ministry Matters and for letting me know what you think! I look forward to talking with you in blogland!