Puppet ministries are still effective. . . with children. But marriage puppet ministries have not been very effective over the past. . . oh. . . 50 years! Does your church have a marriage puppet ministry? Here are some ways you can identify a marriage puppet ministry:
1. The Pastor has never turned away any couple who wanted to get married.
2. The Pastor actually fears that not marrying certain couples because of who their parents or grandparents are, in the church or community, may get him or her fired!
3. You frequently pimp out your sanctuary for people, Christian or not, to “get married” in. In other words you charge them a fee to use the sanctuary or other space.
4. Your church has a “wedding policy” but does not have a “theology of marriage” or written declaration about the meaning of marriage.
A marriage puppet ministry means that the Pastor and sometimes members of the congregation are having their strings pulled by other people or power structures. The greatest puppet master of all may be the nation-state. The best proof of this is the fact that Christian couples who are ready to get divorced do so through the secular judicial system and not through the church who, in fact, never really married them in the first place!
