It was God who established the family. God created Adam after He completed making the earth, sun, and animals. In Genesis God says, "It is not good for the man [Adam] to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him [Eve]." (Gen. 2:18 NASB)
Scripture defines family as follows:
"And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said, 'This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh." (Genesis 2:22-24)
Based on the above Scripture, our primary definition of a true family is "one male and one female joined in marriage, with or without kids." We believe that children are an extension of the family, and welcome members of it, but they do not make a family.
The family today is in desperate need of help. Consider the following staggering statistics:
Ø One out of every three children is born out of wedlock.
Ø One out of every two marriages ends in divorce, including Christian marriages.
Ø One out of every three pregnancies ends in abortion.
Ø One million teenage girls became pregnant out of wedlock.
Ø Five hundred thousand of those girls will abort their babies.
Ø Of all the 14 Year Old girls alive today, 40 percent will become pregnant by their 19th birthday.
Ø 60 percent of all church-involved teenagers are sexually active.
Charles Colson writes, "The family, the most basic unit of civilized society, is the institution that may well be under the greatest attack in society today. Unless we insist on counseling and training before marriage and then provide a full range of services to build and strengthen the family thereafter, the church cannot say it is making disciples and fulfilling the Great Commission" (Colson, 1992, page 289). The church can be the best place for families to find help.
The foundation for the Christian marriage between a man and woman is Christ. If a marriage is built on the principles of Christ characteristics such as patience, forgiveness and healthy handling of anger will be evident.
Reading the Bible, saying prayers, attending church, being involved in church ministry does not guarantee a healthy Christian marriage. You can do all those things and be quite dysfunctional in your relationships.
On the other hand, if Christ really lives in you (Galatians 2:20), your Christ-like demeanor will result in improved relationships if both of you truly seek to submit to Christ. (Ephesians 5:21)
The ministry of Family Life Today conducts marriage conferences each year across the Nation. Below is the list of cities and dates, within the region, where the conferences will be held. We would like to encourage you to attend one nearest you. You can find details relating to the conference at 
