Marriage Ministry

by Amanda Maguire

In the US the divorce rate is staggering, ranging anywhere between 25-50%, depending on what study you read. Where I live the divorce rate is 70% and climbing.

As you read this post, more than 33 couples will file for divorce in Orange County today. I’m not sure if these statistics ignite a fire burning in my heart because of the Holy Spirit, or my obnoxious competitive nature (maybe both). But my desire is that our church in Orange County would be known as the church that gives a voice to what marriage really is, and a hope for couples to not give up and to fight for this sacred union. My heart breaks for the 70%, and it is skeptical that the remaining 30% are actually in healthy and happy marriages.

We need to learn how to be married.

My husband recently became the lead pastor of our church 2 years ago. So many ministries are just starting from the ground level. And just because I may “be the neck that turns the pastor’s head,” the marriage ministry has been no different. So not knowing where to start, I got a hold of MarriedPeople’s website and started implementing what I could where I could whenever I could.

We started 18 months ago with date nights, following the curriculum verbatim. We pulled 4 off last year and are aiming for about the same this year. As we did each date night we listened to the needs of those who were attending.

Some where super fired up about helping marriages and wanted to play a part in our marriage ministry, and some were coming as a last ditch effort to hear just about anything that could help their miserable marriage.

I had friends who were “mentoring” a newly married couple from our church. So I began to ask a few other couples that I knew had healthy and loving marriages if they would want to take on a mentor/mentee relationship with another couple.

We are so lucky at our church to have a few wonderful and qualified Marriage and Family Counselors who have been willing to come along side our ministry to train couples who may want to become mentors and then to go through a screening process for hurting couples who may want to be paired up as a mentee couple.

We want to make very certain that both couples know that this is not a marriage counseling session. And if the hurting couple is at a place where professional help is needed they are directed to do so and we have so many great professionals to recommend.

They will also know that another couple is praying for them and willing to walk through their professional counseling as a support if they so desire.

I love how God is using the Marriage Ministry to give opportunities for the people of our church to minister to the people in our church and our community. With great expectation and anticipation I know this ministry will continue to grow and God will continue to use us to be the change in the horrific statistic about Orange County.

 

Amanda Maguire has been married to a youth pastor for 12 years and now the lead pastor of a church for the past 3 years. (It’s the same guy!) They are raising a family with kids 11, 9, and 6 . Amanda is passionate about being a part of the divorce rate going down in her community and the happy healthy rate of marriages going up!

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