Minister Says 'Marriage Matters' Pacts Make Positive Difference
by Allie Martin
November 9, 2004
(AgapePress) - Clergy in one Iowa county are coming together in an effort to strengthen traditional marriage. More than 20 pastors will gather at the Henry County Courthouse in Mt. Pleasant to sign a "Marriage Matters" agreement.The "Marriage Matters" agreement the ministers endorse sets a community-wide standard for performing marriages and committing to help couples in trouble. Pastor Mike Hartwig, executive director of Marriage Matters of Iowa, says 23 counties in the state have already signed the agreement. Henry County will become the 24th.
Hartwig says pastors in Iowa began to sign the "Marriage Matters" agreements five years ago, and the changes the program has wrought have been phenomenal. "In one community, our second largest county in the state, 111 pastors came together and signed a similar agreement," he points out, "and one year later there was a drop in the divorce rate of about 15 percent. So we know it works, and we know it has a profound effect."
And the pastor says experience has proven the impact in Iowa is no fluke. "We know that similar agreements from around the country also have the same effect," he notes. "They're dropping the divorce rate as [much] as 25 percent, or 23 percent in some communities."
Hartwig recommends the "Marriage Matters" agreements highly for ministers who are committed to strengthening traditional marriage and promoting healthy families in their areas.
Among the commitments pastors make when signing are: to provide marital counseling before and after performing a wedding; to offer marriage enrichment opportunities to their congregations; and to give teens the tools they need for future healthy marriages.
