PHOENIX, Ariz. – The Arizona Mission Network of Southern Baptists have joined Communio, a nonprofit dedicated to renewing marriages and families through a Christ-centered, data-driven framework, in a partnership designed to strengthen and restore marriages, reduce divorce and help families flourish across the state.
Beginning in January 2025, Communio will engage and equip Arizona Southern Baptist churches with innovative strategies that enhance local church outreach and growth efforts to strengthen families and spread the Gospel across Arizona neighborhoods.
Eddy Pearson, AZMN evangelism and discipleship facilitator, sees marriage ministry as one of the most important outreach opportunities for the local church
“Reaching families can have a generational impact,” Pearson said. “The world has come to Arizona, and we have a great opportunity to reach both Arizonans and people from all over the globe with this partnership.”
In a recent nationwide study by Communio, researchers found that 4 out of 5 people attending church on Sunday grew up in a home where mom and dad stayed married. Despite the clear link between family stability and church attendance, many American churches lack substantive marriage ministries.
“Thriving marriages lead to stable families, safer communities and healthy church growth,” said Matt Knapp, Communio’s chief growth officer.
“We share the Arizona Mission Network’s vision to turn struggling marriages into thriving ones and to foster a culture of discipleship that multiplies leaders and reaches future generations,” he said.
Communio’s work begins with gathering and analyzing data about a partnering church’s congregation and surrounding communities. This data includes the number of singles, cohabiting couples, newlyweds and divorced individuals within a 5-mile radius of each church.
Armed with this data, Communio’s staff helps church leaders identify key needs and outreach opportunities within their churches and communities.
Communio’s next step is to help local leaders host smaller events focused on relationship-building. These events, targeting either married couples or singles, build community and invite participants to attend topical classes, such as effective communication and conflict resolution.
“By equipping churches with targeted outreach tools and mission-oriented playbooks to use those tools, we see churches create lasting impact and deeper community connections,” Knapp said.
The impact of this innovative approach has been noteworthy. In Jacksonville, Fla., Communio partnered with 93 local churches and saw a 24 percent reduction in divorce rates between 2016 and 2018.
Mountain Ridge Church in Glendale has been partnering with Communio for the last year and a half.
“Communio has helped us move from sporadic outreach to a consistent, impactful presence in our community,” Lead Pastor Brett Carlson said. (See Carlson tell about Mountain Ridge’s experience with Communio here.)
The partnership between the Arizona Mission Network and Communio will seek to replicate the work being done in Glendale and other communities across the country.
“We’re excited about people reaching neighborhoods with the Gospel, pouring into families, pouring into the students, just finding out what the needs of our communities are,” said Monty Patton, AZMN Associate executive director.
“Pray for the Arizona Mission Network as we begin this path in 2025,” Pearson said. “We desire to turn the tide from marriages in need to marriages thriving. We know that healthy marriages have a better opportunity to produce relationally healthy kids.”
For more information about Communio and its initiatives, visit Communio.org.
This article originally appeared at azmn.org.
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