Peace after Divorce support group materials are rooted in the following Christian beliefs:
- There is one God existing in the trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- The Bible is the Holy Word of God.
- We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only son, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
- Christ died for our sins and rose again so that we might know God’s saving grace, the forgiveness of sins, and life eternal.
- Salvation comes from accepting Christ as your personal savior. We are saved by grace, not by works.
- God created people to be in relationship with him. A personal relationship with Christ is life-giving.
- The Holy Spirit empowers and nurtures believers for personal growth and service to God.
- Christ came so that we no longer need to live in darkness.
- God washes us clean when we confess our sins and seek his forgiveness. We are also to forgive those who sin against us.
- God promises his followers the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.
- Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.
- God hates divorce because of what it does to his children but he does not hate divorced people.
- God is close to the brokenhearted.
- God calls us to live lives of compassion and love.
- God specializes in new beginnings. Nothing, including divorce, can keep us from the love of Christ.
Why the Church Matters
Jesus Ministered to the Divorced
Jesus ministered to the woman at the well. (John 4:13-18 NIV) He knew she had previously had five husbands and was even living with a man who was not her husband. Yet, He shared with her about the living water she needed in her life, the “spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14 NIV)
As Christians, we too need to minister to those whose lives have been hurt by divorce.
People Hurting from Divorce Desperately Need God’s Grace
Divorce is deeply wounding. The marital dynamics that can lead to divorce are more than complicated. Bitterness, guilt, and anger get an understandable foothold when a person is trying to cope with divorce.
For most Christians, divorce is not taken lightly. For the most part, divorce is thrust upon one of the partners either through abandonment, adultery, or the misdoings of their spouse. Self-esteems are crushed. Many wonder where they stand with God.
Souls so impacted by divorce are in desperate need of the grace of God.
To Help Build Stronger Families
A sound divorce recovery curriculum helps people emotionally, cognitively and spiritually process their marriage and divorce. Working through these issues means they are less likely to carry old wounds into new relationships. This helps to build stronger future marriages as well as stronger single-parent and co-parenting families.
When your church offers an effective Christian divorce recovery group, you help build better families.
Christian Community Matters
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (NIV)
Who better than your church to offer Christian Community to those in pain from divorce?
The Great Commission
We are to make disciples of all the world. (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV) People who are struggling with divorce need spiritual support and growth. Their very pain makes them aware of the need to fill the emptiness inside. They may turn toward God and the church for support or away from Him and the church in frustration.
The church has a calling to help these people understand that their emptiness can only truly be filled by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through a healing group ministry, hurting people can be drawn into the arms of the church.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 NIV
