Marriage Education and the Church

As you know, my wife, Jamie, and I are trained to teach a variety of marriage education curriculums. We have been trying to get a class started at our church for a few weeks now and it has been highly suggested to us that we hold off until August to start our class. The reasons given to us are:

1) It will be too soon after the last marriage class was taught.
2) You will have trouble getting enough people to commit to the class.
3) Church couples don't believe they need the class because they already have a good marriage. and
4) Couples don't want a class that is to personal and will possibly cause them to "air their dirty laundry" in front of other church members.

How sad I felt when I heard this. Especially after one of our elders told me he personally knows of three or four couples whose marriages are in trouble. He also told me the elders support the idea of the class and they know it is needed but they won't take the class themselves. Again that made me very sad.

Divorce rates among active church going people is almost exactly the same as the those who do not attend church or claim any religion at all. People in churches struggle with the same issues as people outside the church and they are just as afraid to seek help for those struggles because of self pride or because they are afraid they will be "embarrassed" and "shunned" by their peers.

What a sad state of affairs when your church family will not act like a church family and support each other when we struggle. We are so afraid that others will look down on us because we are not "perfect" that we let our marriages fail, to attempt to uphold an image of perfection.

Elders, Pastors and other church leaders need to not only support strong marriages with their lips but support it with their actions. They need to take the classes so they can see "first-hand" how these programs can make their flocks stronger and better able to help the communities they serve.

What do you think?