• Clergy – time to minister to marriages, motivation, early awareness of couple problems
• Couples – denial/fear about need of help, lack of time/recognition for maintenance
• Resources – training, people, materials, for youth and adults
• Publicity of what’s available, getting people there
• Culture – secular view, divorce, not seeing God’s vision

The tools or resources, which they needed to more effectively minister to marriage, are:

• Commitment of clergy to strengthen marriages, Biblical view of marriage
• Trained leaders and mentors
• Resources – printed materials, ideas, affordable counseling, Spanish, youth, single parenting, empty nest
• Networking
• Needs assessments and plans
• Publicity of events

We learned that over half the churches do not have a staff person who is dedicated to family ministry at least "some of the time." Very few congregations sampled have performed any formal family ministry needs assessments in the last two years. No respondents indicated that blended families receive equipping to build new, strong family relationships much of the time. 79% of respondents indicate that single-parenting supports and classes are not at all or rarely available.
 
In our quest to strengthen marriages in Oklahoma, the Marriage Network is sponsoring trainings for churches and ministry leaders each quarter. Check our home page for the next workshop training event.