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JOHN AUXIER, dean of Trinity Western Seminary and
co-founder of Smarter Families Canada, is passionate about helping
marriages.
“According to Statistics Canada,” he
writes, “divorce rates in Canada are holding strong at 38 percent
– with many couples choosing cohabitation over traditional marriage.
Yet over 60 percent of cohabitating couples split up.
“Recent studies, however, have shown married
couples – over a long period of time – enjoy better mental
health, are happier, more financially secure and are actually physically
healthier and experience lower death rates. While the pros outweigh the
cons there are fewer and fewer couples making it.”
From May 30 to June 1, lay leaders, pastors,
counselors and family therapists will have the opportunity to attend the
5th annual ACTS Smarter Families Canada Conference at Trinity Western
University.
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The conference aims to teach and train those in church
leadership effective ways to minister, encourage and foster stronger and
smarter marriages and families.
According to Auxier, “Younger Canadians are
increasingly choosing to enter into serial common-law relationships rather
than making a lifetime commitment to their mate in marriage. This is not
just happening in society at large, but also in the evangelical and Roman
Catholic communities.
“Smarter Families Canada believes that by arming
our church leaders with the proper tools to counsel marriages, we in turn
will see stronger and smarter marriages that will last . . . ultimately
creating strong families and stronger communities.” Pre-conference
seminars will cover topics ranging from marriage mentoring to pornography
recovery groups.
smarterfamiliescanada.ca
May 2007
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