Churches Live or Die By The Family

It may not come as a shock to many of you, but according to Professor W. Bradford Wilcox at the University of Virginia the success of the church is inseparably tied to the success of the traditional family. The research of Professor Wilcox was featured in Dr. Al Mohler's blog today. The entry can be found by clicking here.

According to Professor Wilcox,

Currently, men are 57 percent less likely to attend church regularly if they are not married with children, compared to men who are married with children. Women are 41 percent less likely to attend church regularly if they are single and childless. Marriage does more than bind a man to one woman; it also ties a man to a local congregation.

If anything this research should be a wake-up call for the church. What are we doing to create an environment that builds strong families. When I examine the weekly schedules of some churches, I have to scratch my head and just wonder what are they thinking. I will never understand how we have been sold on the bill of goods that in order to minister to families we have to separate them, throw activities at them, and condition students to depend on pastors instead of parents for discipleship. Shameful.

I hope that you will take the opportunity to read this article and think about the ramifications. Look at how your church treats its families. Especially take note of how your church treats the families of its pastors. If we wonder why our families in the pews are broken its because the families of many of our pastors are just as broken. We expect our pastors to live at church and minister to our families to the neglect of their own. Pastors, if you are reading this, don't let another week slip by without challenging your families to return to a biblical model. Set the example by arranging your schedule to center around your family first. The family you save may be your own and according to Dr. Mohler and Professor Wilcox you may be saving your church to boot.