Building a Relationship that Lasts

The home is a sacred place. We want to help it be more so. The more that we can do to strengthen marriages and families the better. That's why we offer the Marriage Course.

Why should you do the course?

• Regular check-ups help a car run smoothly and reduce the risk of breakdown.
• The best sports professionals spend hours being coached and perfecting their technique.
• The greatest achievements in life take practice, training and dedication.

It is the same with marriage. A strong, loving and lifelong relationship doesn’t happen by chance. It takes effort and dedication to keep the fun and romance alive. We can all learn how to make even the happiest marriage better.

What to Expect?

The 7 weeks are really more similar to date nights than classes. With dinner, flowers, candles, engaging presentations, and thought-provoking questions you and your spouse will love this time away. There's no group discussions, no public sharing, just time for you and your spouse to talk and connect.

Each session covers a different topic, with a DVD presentation to spark the discussion for the evening. Each of you will have a workbook to guide you through each topic and the evening includes private discussion between spouses. There is no sharing with other couples or the leaders.

Session Topics

1. Building Strong Foundations – This session helps couples to look at their lifestyle and its effect upon their marriage, and to discover more about each other’s needs and desires – particularly on an emotional level.
2. The Art of Communication – Listening is a vital skill for a strong marriage. In this session couples practice communicating their feelings and listening effectively to one another.
3. Resolving Conflict – In this session we look at how couples can increase their intimacy by expressing appreciation to each other, recognizing their differences, learning to negotiate disagreements and praying for each other (if they feel comfortable doing so).
4. The Power of Forgiveness – This session addresses the ways we will inevitably have hurt each other and how to resolve these so we don’t create a backlog of anger and resentment. We look at the process of healing through identifying the hurt, saying sorry and forgiving.
5. The Impact of Family – Past and Present – This session focuses on helping couples to recognize how their family background affects the way they relate to each other. They also consider how to build a good and healthy relationship with their parents, in-laws and wider family, and how hurt from childhood can be healed.
6. Good Sex – Sexual intimacy needs to be worked at and developed. It isn’t just the icing on the cake; it’s a vital ingredient of the cake itself. In this session couples are encouraged to talk about their sexual relationship and to recognize where they need to make changes.
7. Love in Action – This session looks at five ways of expressing love – through words, time, touch, presents and actions. Couples discover which expression of love is most important for their partner and how to put this into practice.

The course, while based on Christian principles, is very helpful for any couple with or without a Christian faith or church background.

When is the Next Course?

It has yet to be scheduled.

What couples say...

We nearly didn't come... this year has been extremely hard... we came to a brick wall and didn't know how to get through it. It has totally changed things around. We are going to get our marriage blessed next and have a fresh start.'

'It was a fantastic atmosphere. Although we were amongst all these people I felt we were on a tropical island just the two of us. It was a great feeling just to spend time together.

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