Jump directly to the Content
Jump directly to the Content

Sermon Illustrations

Home > Sermon Illustrations

Global Changes in Family Structures

The New York Times columnist David Brooks listed the following statistics about the global changes in family structure:

  • The number of Americans who are living alone has shot up from 9 percent in 1950 to 28 percent today.
  • In 1990, 65 percent of Americans said that children are very important to a successful marriage. In 2012, only 41 percent of Americans said they believe that.
  • In Scandinavia, 40 to 45 percent of people live alone.
  • In Spain, the number of births per year is now lower than it was in the 18th century.
  • Thirty percent of German women say they do not intend to have children. A majority of Taiwanese women under fifty do not want children. In 35 years, fertility rates in Brazil have dropped from 4.3 babies per woman to 1.9 babies per woman.

There are a number of different ways to interpret these stats, but Brooks concludes, "These are all stunningly fast cultural and demographic shifts. The world is moving in the same basic direction, from societies oriented around the two-parent family to cafeteria societies with many options." A Japanese researcher quoted by Brooks was much blunter: "Under the social and economic systems of developed countries, the cost of a child outweighs the child's usefulness."

Related Sermon Illustrations

The Jekyll and Hyde Nature of Motherhood

Nancy Ortberg, in her sermon "The Jekyll and Hyde of Motherhood”:

A transformation occurred in me with the birth of my children. I traded in that professional look for sweatpants. ...

[Read More]

Motherhood in the Bible Wasn't a Fairy Tale

A quick look at our culture shows that idealized images of motherhood are inaccurate, and Scripture reveals the same. Ruth was left childless and widowed at a young age. Rachel, Hannah, ...

[Read More]