Restoring Marriages in Church: A Case Study of Four Pentecostal Churches in Gaborone, Botswana

Throughout the world divorce continues to ravage homes both inside and outside of the church and the number of divorce cases is increasing at an alarming rate each year. Couples face many challenges to building and sustaining a strong marriage. The overwhelming outcomes of divorce do not only affect the parties in the torn relationship but also the children involved, friends ,the general well-being of both families, the church members and the society as a whole. A lot of research has been conducted about divorce but despite the broad literature on divorce, very little is actually known about the causes of divorce in Pentecostal churches in Botswana. That being as it may, this qualitative case study was carried out in four Pentecostal churches in Gaborone to discover the causes and challenges faced by divorcees, the role played by pastors or church leadership and church membership to assist the victims, as well as establishing ways of minimising divorce in church. The study concludes that while there are many causes of divorce within the church, little or no remedial intervention takes place in the affected churches. The paper therefore, tries to map out strategies or suggest best practices of combating this ungodly practice as a way of lessening the high rates of divorce within the Christian church.