Advancing Sound Marriages into Ministry

One of the goals of STAY MARRIED. is to advance sound marriages into ministry. That means we want to see healthy married couples actively starting or supporting kingdom work, including caring for the poor, widows, and orphans; servant evangelism; prison ministry; pro-life work; inner city children’s outreaches; etc.

A married couple is ordained and anointed to display the mystery of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31-32) to the world.  Marriages in crisis should take a break from ministry and focus on their relationship until their marriage is shining with the light of Jesus like a city on a hill.  Healthy marriages should engage in the work of the kingdom.

MEN WITH VISION

Men were created to lead, but the modern Western church has embraced a feminized version of Christianity that dilutes and confuses the role of men.  STAY MARRIED. encourages men to be men again.  We encourage men to discover, through prayer and time in the Word, the burdens of God’s heart and the area to which He is calling their marriage to advance the kingdom through ministry work.   We do not minimize the ability of women to hear God’s voice and feel the burden of His heart, but we do emphasize that God has created men with a role to initiate and bear responsibility as they follow Christ, their head (1 Corinthians 11:3).  Christian men should be serving and leading the ministries of the church, not sitting on the sidelines.  Men were created to enjoy working with God, and they will be bored and feel unsuccessful if they aren’t doing so.

WOMEN WITH VISION 

If you haven’t seen “The Greatest Showman” with Hugh Jackman, you should.  This family-focused film explores the desire of a man’s heart to be great, the loss of his family in pursuit of that greatness, and the realization that his wife and children are everything he ever wanted and needed.  In the movie, the man’s wife is a woman to be greatly admired.  She grew up in the lap of luxury with everything she could ever want, but she was glad to give it all up for the love of this man.  She fiercely loves her family and wants nothing more than for them to be together and happy, despite any circumstance.  In one of the movie’s songs, she sings to her husband,

“However big, however small
Let me be part of it all
Share your dreams with me
You may be right, you may be wrong
But say that you’ll bring me along
To the world you see,”.

This wife has a vision to be a part of whatever vision her husband has, big or small, right or wrong.  STAY MARRIED. encourages wives to have this same vision. Created by God to come alongside and become one with and help her husband, a wife is perfectly designed to take up the vision of her husband and work alongside him to see it fulfilled.  We realize that a wife may have her own burdens and desires for ministry that may conflict with the goals of her husband, and so we advise these couples to have open communication as they prayerfully consider where they will give their time and energy.  Still, we advise wives to allow their head (husband) to lead in this matter (1 Corinthians 11:3). It is our hope that a healthy marriage will operate in this way, and that the wife will have a vision for partnering in her husband’s vision.

GETTING STARTED

The thought of joining or starting a ministry may seem overwhelming.  So start small, and do it together.  Maybe it means working in the children’s church together one Sunday a month. Or maybe it means starting a brand new ministry. Whatever it is, schedule it into life in such a way that it does not take priority over the continued growth of your marriage.  Then be faithful to the work and let God use your marriage to reveal Jesus to the world.