The Affect on Divorce on the Church

Divorce in the Greek means to put away, to loosen, to untie. When you marry you become glued as God says in Genesis 2:24-25 a man cleaves to his wife. Divorce means that both partners are being untied to each other which is a process that begins in the heart. Sometimes we can become tied to other things rather than our spouses. You can become more tied to the ministry, your job, hobbies or even other people than our spouse. A healthy marriage is vital for the overall success of a person's ministry. Those in ministry must remember that the church is God's bride, and the wife is the husband's bride. Scripture says Ephesians 5:25-27 KJV Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. In the Christian home the order is the spouse comes first, then the children and then the extended family. When you get this out of order problems will occur.
Leaders can be so focused on the church and neglect their families and most importantly their wives. The bible reads Genesis 2:24 (KJV) a man leaves his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. The Late Billy Graham was stated in a Washington Post article as an absent father and his daugther Anne Graham Lotz noting that Ruth their mom served as both mother and father to their children. Billy Graham also admitted his regrets stating, Every day I was absent from my family is gone forever, he said. Although much of that travel was necessary, some of it was not. I always tell younger evangelists not to feel like they have to accept every invitation they get or be absent from home so much. This same concept should apply to those that are in leadership, apostles, pastors, evangelists and missionaries. We are called first to evangelize in our own homes and then unto the world.
When leaders experience divorces the congregation lose credibility and trust of their leaders. Leaders are look upon as superior however it’s vital for us to remember that our leaders are human beings also and can fall short. We should not lift anyone or anything up higher than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When leaders or anyone in the body of Christ experience divorce, we must acknowledge this fact that divorce can happen when the bond of love has become untied. We must support anyone facing challenges or facing divorce to help support them as the bible says in the spirit of love and not in the spirit of condemnation Galatians 6:1 (KJV). Divorce is the untying of the bond that God has ordained from the beginning. We are the bride of Christ and God loved us so much that God gave his only begotten son to reconcile us back to Him. God's bond of love is everlasting and God would rather for us to remain marry until death separates us

Great post Marilyn. I really enjoyed the part about Billy Graham. To have a real life explanation helps shed more insight on the damage that is done when one puts ministry before their marriage or family. As he said that's time lost forever. God intended for marriage to be between 1 man and woman and they were to cleave one to another until death do them part. In the same manner we are God's bride and He desires to be with us eternally. This is why it is so important that anything God desires for our life that we know what His word says about it. Leaders should study what the word says about marriage so they can stay in alignment with God's desire for marriage. This could possibly help leaders remember their first ministry is home.
I agree that divorces can happen in the church and we should support those facing the challenges. Leaders can't always control if thier spouse will divorce them or not but for the sake of the congregation there should be some type of transparency, otherwise it could very look as if the leader is teaching the congregation that divorce is okay.