Now here is a cause I can get behind! Monday Night Pastors and Christian leaders from around the world watched a video that both encouraged and challenged the church to promote healthy marriages by promoting Date Night! You’ve been nagging to all your friends and family about how you just want things to be the way they used to be – you know before the kids, bills and responsibilities of life started popping up, well rejoice because the Lord has heard your cries and its time to get a sitter and plan your date night!
The purpose of family date night is to relay just how important it is for churches everywhere to present a united front in support of healthy, biblical marriages.
“Many pastors want to do something to strengthen their marriages in their church, but they don’t necessarily have a plan or the capacity to enrich really all of their marriages,” said Greg Smalley, executive director of marriage for FOTF, who served as the conference’s host.
This is where Focus On The Family Steps in…you might want to pass this to your pastor too:
This challenge will begin the week of Feb. 7-14, when churches will host a date night and show a video featuring Christian comedian Jeff Allen, romantic music from former Newsong lead singer Michael O’Brien and a talk from Smalley and his wife.
After the event, couples will be able to download date ideas for the following two weeks, though Smalley noted that he doesn’t want it to end there.
“The key … is to challenge them and encourage them to keep dating,” he said, also indicating couples who aren’t married could benefit from the event. According to a study, 92 percent of couples who participated in The Date Night Challenge in 2010 say they had increased satisfaction in their relationship.
Rev. Sammy Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said in a clip played during the video conference that the challenge is a great opportunity for churches to reach out to members of their surrounding communities as well, opening a door for churches to proclaim the Gospel and also help them in a practical way.
“We understand … that when times are tough, in an economic downturn, marriages suffer the most,” Rodriguez said. “This is a powerful tool in our current reality.”
