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Dave Willis

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How to start a Marriage Ministry.

How to start a Marriage Ministry.

Last updated on: January 9, 2015 at 3:58 pm by Dave Willis

How to start a Marriage Ministry. 2015-01-09T15:58:24-05:00 Dave Willis

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As a pastor and the founder of the Facebook Marriage Page, I’ve had thousands of interactions with married couples from all over the world. These interactions have taught me a few things about the current state of marriages:

1. Married couples need encouragement and practical tools to help them.

2. Most married couples don’t know where to go to get the help they need.

3. Churches should be a huge part of the solution, but sadly, most churches don’t know where to start.

I believe creating and cultivating a thriving Marriage Ministry is one of the most practical investments of time and resources a church could make. There are several reasons why churches need to do more to build strong marriages:

Why your church needs a Marriage Ministry.

1. Marriage, by God’s design, is the foundation of the family. Building stronger marriages will lead to stronger families which creates stronger churches, which creates stronger communities, which creates a better world.

2. Marriage Ministry is effective outreach and evangelism, because marriage is one of the few areas where even those outside the church are willing to listen to what the church has to say about it.

3. If people don’t get answers about marriage from the church, they’ll get answers from the culture (which is why so many marriages are messed up).

You probably already knew the reasons why the church needs to be talking more about marriage. I think the bigger question is “HOW DO WE DO IT?”

I’m glad you asked!

I certainly don’t claim to be any kind of “guru” when it comes to this stuff, but my background and platforms have given me some unique perspective into all of this. The list below isn’t comprehensive, but hopefully, it will help you take some next steps towards building stronger marriages in your church.

A “Marriage Ministry” is really just about providing some options and opportunities to couples. Some tools to help you start a Marriage Ministry:

1. Marriage-focused classes and/or groups.

There are countless resources out there to help you offer these kinds of options. A great place to start your search is FamilyDynamics.net. Their ministry has created some stellar courses and I’ve seen the results of their classes. “Dynamic Marriage” and “United” are two of their courses which have helped many people in our church. They’ve also created a weekend retreat for couples in crisis at SaveMyMarriage.com.

2. Marriage “Coaches”

Pastors are not trained marriage counselors, and frankly, they don’t typically have the time, energy or expertise to sit down one-on-one with every couple who needs help. That’s why your church needs some “coaches.” This is a team of healthy couples in your church who go through a training and then agree to meet with couples in crisis for a period of time and offer encouragement, mentorship and support. Healing happens best in the context of relationships.

3. Marriage retreats.

Most married couples don’t get away together without kids, and this is vitally important for the health of a marriage. Getting away with the specific intention of building a marriage can work wonders. Off this option once or twice a year and it will be a potentially life-changing weekend for the couples who attend.

4. Marriage sermon series.

Our church did a marriage sermon series last year and created a website to go along with it. You can check out the “I want a new marriage” series website here. We had huge attendance and great feedback. Plus, it was a lot of fun! Teach about marriage and do it consistently. The people want (and need) to hear it.

5. Marriage resources.

Provide books, videos and other resources to your people. You can use our FREE videos including “The 4 Pillars of a Strong Marriage” 4-part series and this sermon on How to have a stronger marriage. You can also check out this brand brand new video series on sex and marriage since SEX is also a big part of what married couples want and need to talk about.

There are also countless marriage books out there. You can check out my marriage books by clicking here.

For ongoing tips and tools to build stronger marriage, connect with me on twitter.

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Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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