Growing marriage gap between rich and poor offers ministry opportunities.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | For Facts & Trends
In the Texas town of Childress, about 22.4 percent of the population lives in poverty — nearly double the national average.
Halfway between Amarillo and Wichita Falls, the cattle and cotton-farming hub of 6,000 is the biggest community for 100 miles in any direction.
“The closest shopping mall and movie theater is about two hours away,” says Trey Morgan, minister for the Childress Church of Christ.
Way off the beaten path, Morgan’s thriving congregation of 375 works to bolster Childress’ quality of life in a simple way: by strengthening the town’s marriages and families.
“As melodramatic as it sounds, if we could make more families the way God designed them, it would fix about 90% of the problems in our country,” suggests Morgan, a father of four who, with his wife Lea, leads marriage workshops across the nation.
Focusing on the socioeconomic — and spiritual — benefits of saying “I do” makes sense at a time of an increasing “marriage divide” in the U.S., relationship experts tell Facts & Trends.
This story appears in the digital edition of Facts & Trends.
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