Relationships & Families

• Family


  A place for the nurture and disciplining of children, where parents respect their children and children honour their parents
• Christian family model


  • Consists of a mother, father and children
  • A place through which children can be brought up with Christian values and an understanding of the faith
• Christianity teaches that God has provided families to develop loving and respectful relationships
• The family environment provides a place for hospitality
• The Church of England recommends that every diocese should encourage its parishes to run courses in marriage preparation and in parenting to help strengthen family life
• The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds believers of the central importance of families in society, saying, 'The family is the original cell of social life" (2207)
• Fidelity


  Remaining faithful and committed to your spouse - not committing adultery
• Fidelity helps to protect the stability of the family unit
• Genesis 1: 26-28: '"Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it."'
• Ephesians 6:4: '"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."'
• Exodus 20:12: '"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord vour God is giving you."'
• The majority of churches, including the Anglican Church, the Catholic Church and the Methodist Church, teach that marriage should take place only between a man and a woman
• A Christian marriage in these churches excludes same-sex marriage
• Christian marriage


  • The outward act of marriage is evidence of the spiritual unity that occurs between a couple
  • The promises the couple makes to one another in the wedding service are for life and should not be broken
  • The vows are between the man and the woman getting married as well as with God
• Through prayer, they ask for God's blessing and his presence in the marriage relationship is believed to make it stronger
• Blessings of marriage


  • The creation (procreation) and the nurture of children
  • The correct place for sexual relations
  • Help and comfort during all aspects of life
• Marriage


  Offers the opportunity to learn patience and forgiveness, which can then be offered to others in the wider society
• Christian marriage


  • Should reflect Christ's love for the church
  • Christ is forever committed to his people in the church, just like the married couple have promised to remain committed to one another until death
  • Christ showed his love through his sacrificial death on the cross, and in the same way a married couple should be prepared to love one another by not being selfish and by considering the needs of their spouse
• Different Christian marriage ceremonies reflect different attitudes to its importance
• Marriage in the Catholic and Orthodox churches

  • A sacrament that creates a unique and unbreakable bond between the couple
  • Marriage is understood to be indissoluble
  • Both people being married must be baptised and one of the couple must be Catholic
  • As a sacrament, marriage brings God's grace to the couple in a unique way, helping each spouse to be faithful to the other and good parents when they have children
  • Weddings often include a nuptial mass and the couple may be involved as ministers of the sacrament, bringing the bread and wine to the altar
• Marriage in the Church of England

  • A church wedding adds a spiritual dimension to the marriage, as God is included
  • The Church welcomes any heterosexual couple to marry in the church - whether they are Christian or baptised does not matter
  • The Church is also prepared to carry out mixed-faith marriages, but the service remains unchanged and all the vows are exchanged in the presence of God, observing the Church of England ceremony
  • An announcement is made as part of a regular Sunday church service, known as the reading of the 'banns', which allows anyone to raise any reasons why the marriage should not legally be allowed to go ahead
  • The Church believes that the vows made to God and the prayers said during the service bring blessing into the couple's married life
  • Most weddings use the words from the Marriage Service from Common Worship (2000), which the Church of England considers to cover all that is good and to be hoped for in a healthy marriage
• Marriage in non-conformist churches


  • There may be much more freedom for the bride and the groom as they plan their wedding service
  • They can write their own vows rather than following vows set down by the church
  • This gives more emphasis on the couple saying things to God rather than on his unique work through the act of marriage
• Quaker wedding


  • The belief that only God can join the couple together means that they have no minister to lead the proceedings
  • The couple sit in silent worship with the congregation until they feel it is the right time to say their vows
  • They then sign the Quaker marriage certificate and return to their seats
  • A friend or relative will read out the certificate
  • After this the congregation returns to silent worship, though during this time anyone may stand and speak as they feel led to do so by God
  • At the end of the service everyone present will sign the marriage certificate as a witness to it
  • This approach to marriage stresses the belief that the union is being made between the couple and God
• Mark 10:7-9: '"Man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will be become one flesh ... Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."'
• 1 Corinthians 7:32: '"I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs - how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world-how he can please his wife-and his interests are divided."'
• On 21 December 2005 it became legal in the UK for same-sex couples to recognise their union through civil partnerships
• The Catholic Church and the Church of England do not perform civil partnerships because of their teachings about sexual relationships
• Both churches teach that marriage is the proper place in which sexual relationships should occur, with the main role of sex being to create new life
• Church of England vicars of the same sex are allowed to have civil partnerships, but they are required to remain celibate
• The clergy of the Church of England are told by the House of Bishops not to carry out services or blessings of homosexual civil partnerships
• There are some Christians, from across different denominations, who believe that civil partnerships should be acceptable to the Church
• Civil partnerships


  • Provide companionship, unity and stability in the same way that heterosexual marriage does
  • Reflect the biblical value of equality and God's desire to bless faithful, lifelong marriages, regardless of the sex of the couple
• In March 2014 same-sex marriages became legal in England and Wales
• The law allows same-sex couples to convert their civil partnerships into a marriage if they wish
• Both the Catholic Church and the Church of England do not carry out same-sex marriages
• Vicars are not allowed to enter same-sex marriages themselves
• Members of the Church of England may have same-sex marriages without facing any punishment from the Church
• However, such weddings cannot be conducted by the Church
• The Church believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, with one of its purposes being procreation
• The Catholic Church is opposed to same-sex marriage, concerned that it will have harmful effects on society by undermining the value of heterosexual marriage