Chris and Noelle Jones, Missionaries Serving in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa

The Ephesians 5:31 - Two Shall Become One!

The theme for our Couples Ministry is: Ephesians 5:31.The Two Shall Become One! "A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh..." Ephesians 5:31.

The group is for couples who are considering marriage and for couples who have been together for a short time or many years.

In this part of Africa it is quite common for people to have multiple wives. It is also possible to be married in the African tradition without a legal or civil ceremony. There are many issues surrounding the marriage relationship which need to be discussed. So we started a group for the couples in our church.

We will be looking at what it means to be a married couple from a Biblical perspective.

In our first meeting we discussed leaving and cleaving. "A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife..."! This caused a lot of discussion because here in Africa the family structure can be very complicated.

Many families have several generations living under the same roof. The oldest person has the last word on everything. The extended family also shares responsibility for raising and caring for the children. You might see one family with children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and several levels of cousins, aunts and uncles all living in the same house and sharing responsibilities for raising each other's children.

One of the questions raised was, if a person can't afford to have their own home or apartment, should they postpone marriage because they would have to live with their mother and father? Here in Africa financial realities, poverty, lack of education and training make it very difficult for someone to secure a new place to live, leave their family and start a new life after marriage.

Pray for our couples as we look into these important life-changing issues.

Thank you for your prayers and continual support. May God bless you as you seek to serve Him in spirit and in truth.

Chris and Noelle Jones

(Back to Gospel For Africa Home Page)

Support Gospel For Africa Today!
Choose a one time gift for any amount or choose a predetermined recurring monthly gift.

Help Us Provide French Bibles!
You can help us purchase French Bibles! (Old and New Testement) for only $2.00 US each. A donation of $20.00 US will purchase 10 Bibles. 75% of the people who have come to our church have never owned a complete Bible.