Right now we are in the middle of a series called Beautiful Mess that centers on learning from one of the greatest relationships God created…marriage. There is not a week that goes by that we don’t hear from someone in our community of faith that is struggling in their marriage. Because of that reality, this year we wanted to do more than just have a teaching series centered on marriage. Our hope this year and for the coming years is to actually be hands on with our effort to help people have better marriages. Since God created marriage we felt like that we needed to step our game up in our effort to help husbands and wives strive for a better story instead of a perfect marriage.
This year we created a one stop website for people in our church to work on their marriage. Here is what we created, you can click on the picture and head over to look at the site…
We have intentionally created 6 avenues that will help us invest in marriages this year. Here is what we are doing…
- Launch Premarital Event // We decided to create premarital events that would help set couples up for a healthy start. Couples still meet with the pastor who is performing the ceremony but they also get an incredible experience that sets the up for a great beginning as they begin their marriage.
- Date To-Go // These are simple guides for people to lead them through a fun date. The experiences push for connection, communication, fun, and spiritual growth. We learned this idea from our friends at MarriedPeople.org!
- Boost // Boost is a marriage seminar hosted at our church every other month that hits a critical marriage issue. It’s led by leading professionals in our community and these are going to a direct way to coach people throughout the year!
- Marriage Resource Partnerships // This is a centralized list of great resources for couples and strategic partnerships with marriage retreats!
- Professional Counseling Partnerships // There are times when couples need professional help to move forward and this is where our strategic partnerships with professional counselors comes in to play!
- Strategic Teaching Series // Teaching on marriage in the yearly calendar really does pay off. We do a marriage series every year and it is just the spark many couple need. You can listen to our current teaching series here!
Landing on this strategy took us months of prayer and planning. It also required us to link arms with other people in our community. My challenge to you would be to process this one question. What is your church doing to help people have better marriages? Move beyond wishful thinking and develop a strategic plan.
If you are a senior leader and you want to gather with other leaders passionate about investing in marriages, families, and the next generation gather with us at The Orange Conference. We have crafted a senior leader track that is beyond incredible and will link you with other like mined leaders. Go check out this gathering here!