Marriage is a daily part life so make it part of the culture of your church and local community by:
Honour wedding anniversaries in your church as you may do with birthdays.
Pray for marriages and if you have an intercessor or intercessory prayer group within the church ensure that marriages are on their agenda. (See also ‘The Importance of Marriage’ )
- Host an event such as”
- ‘a Day Together’ conference (Power To Change)
- ‘Married for Life’ conference (2=1 Australia )
- SmartLoving Talks/Workshops can be tailored to your parish needs such as engaged couples/ newlyweds/ school parents/ youth, or a SmartLoving Marriage seminar (SmartLoving resources from the ‘ Marriage Resource Centre‘)
- ‘Growing Together in Marriage’ weekend (GTIM – a South Australian ministry).
Within your church recruit and train “Marriage Coaches”. Empower them to run The Marriage Course, The Marriage Preparation Course or other marriage related courses/programs.
Offer pre-marriage education. Don’t just limit yourself to couples getting married in your church; marriage is a time when people are open/seeking. Remember that Marriage Celebrants, who undertake at least 70% of marriages in Australia, are required by law to recommend pre-marriage education. Check out courses such as ‘The Marriage Preparation Course’ from The Marriage Course Australia or ‘One for Life’ from 2=1.
- Offer The Marriage Course twice a year. The course is scalable; that is it can be run just as well for 2 couples in a home, 20 couples in a restaurant or 200 in a hall. For any condition of marriage, any age of marriage, churched or unchurched. Find out more about the course from “Marriage Course Australia” at their web site https://www.marriagecourse.org.au/
- Then there are are number of units of Power to Change’s ‘Homebuilders Workshops directly focused on relationship building within marriage.
- 2=1 also offer a 12 week course, which is also available on line also.
- Focus on the Family Australia also offer online marriage conferences/evenings.
