Marriage Ministry

Brief Description

Healthy marriages do not simply happen, though our culture’s marriage landscape suggests otherwise. Married couples need a strong foundation that the majority of people cannot build on their own. How can ministers best prepare engaged couples for the altar? And how can ministers help provide the needed material for healthy growth among married couples in their cultures?

Marriage Ministry: A Guidebook by noted pastors, authors, and seminar leaders Bo Prosser and Charles Qualls provides a ready help for ministers who provide premarital counseling, perform wedding ceremonies, and generally care for married couples and their families. Full of information and ideas that encourage conversation, communication, and interaction, this book will help ministers respond to the many needs of couples in the church. Whether your ministerial needs are with the newly married, the successfully married, or the struggling married, Marriage Ministry will surely help you help them.

About the Authors

Bo Prosser is the Coordinator for Congregational Life with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Atlanta, Georgia and has served many years in the local church. He is the co-author of Lessons from the Cloth and Building Blocks for Sunday School Growth.

Charles Qualls is the Associate Pastor for Pastoral Care at Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the co-author of Lessons from the Cloth and Building Blocks for Sunday School Growth.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: A Missional Overview for Marriage
Enrichment in the Church
Missional Marriage Ministry in the Church
A Biblical Perspective
“It Takes a Village”

Chapter 2: Going to the Chapel—Premarital Ministries
What’s the Hurry?
Tasks of Premarriage
Why Multi-session Premarital Counseling?
Integrity Issues for Ministers
Issues for Newlyweds
Can We Really Help Them?
Money Management
Family Roles and Patterns
Genograms
Conflict Resolution Skills
Communication
Feelings
Sexual Intimacy
Bible Study for Nearlyweds and Newlyweds

Chapter 3: Coaching Couples in Ongoing Issues
The Healthy Marriage Moving Through Life
Nurturing the Romance
Coaching Couples in Sexual Intimacy
Creating a Place for Purpose and Fulfillment
Nurturing Six Essential Intimacies
Proactive Parenting
Childless Couples
Midlife Issues and Marriage
Avoiding Boredom and Affairs in Marriage
Crises, Death, and Marriage

Conclusion
Appendix
A. The Wedding Ceremony
B. Sample Wedding Services
C. A Marriage Enrichment Weekend
D. A Money Management Weekend