--- title: Family and marriage date: 2021-04-07T11:33:00+01:00 author: Tim Coysh canonical_url: "https://www.eauk.org/what-we-do/advocacy/family-and-marriage" section: Pages --- Families are the building blocks of our society. Supporting and nurturing healthy families is crucial to the health of wider society. We believe marriage helps create order, commitment, protection and nurture for families, and the space for the physical, spiritual and moral formation of children. The biblical ideal for marriage, between one man and one woman for life, serves as a picture of Christ’s commitment to the church, and is a symbolic mystery which some are invited into, and through which all are blessed. We know that God’s design for family is important because it is through the picture of family that God often relates to His people. God invites us to call Him father, with Jesus as our brother, in turn making the church a family of brothers and sisters. We are grafted into this family tree by a process of adoption and being ​‘born again’ into new life through no work of our own. In the Bible, family is not merely nuclear; it’s broad and welcoming, as the vulnerable and outsiders, orphans and widows, refuges and strangers find a home in the family of God. The Bible offers a comprehensive and positive vision of family, but this is often set at odds or presented negatively when compared with our cultural stories of family, relationships and community. There are wide-ranging challenges to the biblical picture of marriage and family life in our society and public conversations. The Evangelical Alliance works with member organisations including Home for Good, which encourages Christian families to respond to the needs of vulnerable children by fostering or adopting children in care, mobilises churches to support the families within that choose to adopt/​foster. The Evangelical Alliance seek to influence wider society through advocacy and engagement, to create systemic change so that every child has the home they need. *“*I will betroth you to me forever; *I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,* *in love and compassion.*” – Hosea 2:19 [ ![Briefing: Weddings law in England and Wales](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ![Close-up of Wedding Rings on Floor](https://eauk.org/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,quality=90,width=400,fit=cover/https://cdn.eauk.org/pexels-megapixelstock-17834.jpg) ](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/briefing-weddings-law-in-england-and-wales) [#### Briefing: Weddings law in England and Wales ](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/briefing-weddings-law-in-england-and-wales) The Law Commission is proposing comprehensive changes to weddings law in England and Wales, moving from a building-based to an "officiant-based" scheme [ ![Alicia Edmund](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ](/author/alicia-edmund) [ Alicia Edmund ](/author/alicia-edmund) 01 August 2022 [](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/briefing-weddings-law-in-england-and-wales) [ ![Cornerstone loses its appeal to only accept Bible-believing Christians as potential carers](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ![Family Sitting On A Lawn In Front Of House](https://eauk.org/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,quality=90,width=400,fit=cover/https://cdn.eauk.org/Family-sitting-on-a-lawn-in-front-of-house.jpg) ](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/cornerstone-loses-its-appeal-to-only-accept-bible-believing-christians-as-potential-carers) [#### Cornerstone loses its appeal to only accept Bible-believing Christians as potential carers ](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/cornerstone-loses-its-appeal-to-only-accept-bible-believing-christians-as-potential-carers) The Christian adoption and fostering charity has applied to the Supreme Court to overturn recent decision [ ![Damilola Makinde](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ](/author/damilola-makinde) [ Damilola Makinde ](/author/damilola-makinde) 06 October 2021 [](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/cornerstone-loses-its-appeal-to-only-accept-bible-believing-christians-as-potential-carers) [ ![Wide-ranging review of wedding ceremonies underway](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ![Wedding rings](https://eauk.org/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,quality=90,width=400,fit=cover/https://cdn.eauk.org/Wedding-rings.jpg) ](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/wide-ranging-review-of-wedding-ceremonies-underway) [#### Wide-ranging review of wedding ceremonies underway ](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/wide-ranging-review-of-wedding-ceremonies-underway) The Law Commission is currently consulting on proposed changes to how wedding ceremonies work 18 November 2020 [](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/wide-ranging-review-of-wedding-ceremonies-underway)