According to the Vanier Institute of Family and Stats Canada the relationship landscape of country is shifting rapidly.
: 4 out of 10 first time marriages end in divorce.
: For the first time in Canadian history there are more unmarried people than legally married people age 15.
: Common-law families are the fasted growing type of family in Canada with 1 in 10 Canadians living in such relationships and 15 per cent of children living with common-law parents.
: The rate of marriages has been in steady decline since 1981 and the rate of co-habitation in Canada has tripled in the last 25 years.
Today the honest questions around marriage are “Why bother?” and “Is it really possible to be happily married to one person for my entire life?”
Starting on January 15 we will begin a short (4 week) teaching series on the topic of marriage. This series is not designed to delve into marriage issues and help couples work through specific problems, rather it’s goal is to give both married and unmarried people a vision of what marriage is according to the Bible. That will help married people correct mistaken views that might be harming their marriage, and it will help single people stop destructively over-desiring marriage or destructively dismissing marriage altogether. We need to be reminded of a brutally realistic yet glorious vision of what marriage is and can be.
The Bible’s teaching on marriage does not reflect the perspective of any particular culture or time. In the Bible we have teaching that has been tested by millions of people over centuries in multiple cultures. There is no other resource on marriage like it!
There are three ways that you can participate:
1. Content Connection: Engage in the teaching times each Sunday morning from January 15 – February .
2. Group Connection: Various small groups will be meeting each week to discuss the content, share stories and perspectives and study the Bible.
3. Couple Connection: Each week will include some fun activities for couples to engage in with each other.
You and I do not need statistics to recognize the challenges of marriage. We have all experienced the pain of broken relationships, divorce and infidelity either in our own relationships or those we love. There may be no greater need in our culture than relationship guidance and healing.
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