Valerie Steimle is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“Mormon” woman). She has been writing as a family advocate for the past 20years. She is the mother of nine children living insouthern Alabama and is the author of four books and a weekly newspaper column, Thoughts from the Heart.
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (or Mormons) we focus a lot of our attention in church attendance. The more we attend church together as a family, the more we can learn important communication skills and ponder fundamental beliefs and doctrines. Church attendance helps families to be a better family.
For example, according to a U.S. News and World Report on September 9, 1996 called “Can Churches Save America,” “the divorce rate for regular churchgoers is 18 percent; for those who attend services less than once a year, 34 percent.”
Religious beliefs help keep a perspective in life which points us in the right direction and encourages and gives us hope through our trials. Some families consider going to church a waste of time as they cannot feel how it will help. But if you stop and think about it, there are great things church attendance can do for families.
Attending a church or synagogue service consistently with your family makes the difference between wonderful relationships and troubled times in family life; it’s n ot that everything will be perfect; it’s that a faith-based life adds a dimension and a power that enters a family in relation to the other. Belief in God empowers; revelation through prayer guides. Each certainly helps the cause of keeping the family together. From my own personal experience, I have seen how attending church regularly and abiding by its precepts can help pull families through difficult times. Read the rest of this entry »
