The Premarital Counseling Handbook


Book Description

In any endeavor, dreams and goals not backed by concrete plans and preparations can result in failure. And marriage is no exception, claims H. Norman Wright. In fact, without solid planning and forethought by engaged couples, we will surely see a continuation of the startling divorce rate among Christians and non-Christians alike. On the other hand, thorough premarital counseling and preparation can result in lifelong marriages that are fulfilling and God honoring. That's where the church comes in. More and more churches are realizing that their responsibility lies not only in pronouncing men and women 'husband and wife,' but also in making sure the proper foundation is laid so that marriages have a better chance of standing strong under pressure. Since its introduction in 1977 as Premarital Counseling, this book has been used by literally thousands of churches throughout the country as both a guide and reference tool. Now Dr. Wright has added new material to cover some perplexing issues that have come into prominence only recently. Among those special concerns are: Interracial marriages Second marriages Marriages of persons from dysfunctional families Writing for both pastors and other premarital counselors, H. Norman Wright sets you at ease about the counseling process, even if you've had only limited counseling experience. As the author of the popular Before You Say I Do and numerous other books on marriage, H. Norman Wright documents in The Premarital Counseling Handbook methods hat have proved successful. These will help insure that the marriages performed in your church will resist the pressures that are destroying today's married couples.




A Pre-Marriage Counselling Handbook Set


Book Description

The Pre-Marriage Counselling Handbook with Master Outlines was written specifically for the African context on how to build a successful marriage. Covering topics such as: Getting to know your spouse Communication skills and conflict resolution Marriage vows What the Bible says about sex In-law relationships Financial home management Preparing a godly home for children Building a biblical foundation Designed as a seminar-in-a-book, A Pre-Marriage Counselling Handbook equips pastors and counselors to teach biblical premarriage classes and seminars. Sold as a two-volume set with handout masters allows teacher to copy class worksheets.




Ready to Wed


Book Description

Are You Planning a Wedding or Preparing for a Marriage? Like most engaged couples, you’re researching venues, trying on dresses and picking out tuxedos or suits, tasting sample dishes, dreaming of honeymoon destinations, and doing everything to ensure your wedding day is the event of a lifetime. But as more seasoned couples will tell you, there’s more to a marriage than a wedding. A lot more. How do you build a marriage that you’ve dreamed of? Dr. Greg Smalley, vice president of marriage at Focus on the Family, and his wife, Erin, along with 14 marriage experts, serve as your marriage guides as you prepare for life beyond the wedding day. From how to handle those everyday conflicts to how to better connect on a spiritual level, they’ll show you how to get ready for a lifetime of commitment. When the flowers have faded and the last morsel of cake has been eaten, you’ll stand with your new spouse, ready to face life together. Equip yourself for a marriage that lasts by learning: How to leave your parents (while still honoring them) and cleave to your spouse Why spiritual intimacy is key to a lasting relationship Why the language of love is communication (and how to build it) How to manage conflict in a healthy, God-honoring way Why sexual intimacy in your marriage will be the gift that keeps on giving Invest in a marriage that will last for decades. Are you ready?







Tying the Knot


Book Description

Tying the Knot by Rob Green offers soon-to-be-married couples a practical vision of Christ-centered marriage that is realistic, hopeful, and actionable. With homework to help any counselor or couple put crucial lessons into practice, Tying the Knot is a highly relevant premarital counseling book. This eight-session study guides couples through issues like conflict, expectations, communication, finances, and intimacy, showing how each can be successfully resolved with Christ at the center of the marriage. Knowing the stresses and needs of a couple in their season of engagement, Green has helpfully designed the study to require a manageable (and healthy) 60 minutes of at-home work per session, with questions and exercises to build communication and intimacy at the end of each chapter. Tying the Knot also includes an appendix for mentors, making it easy for a married couple, lay leader, or counselor to lead an engaged couple through the book. Field-tested and recommended by multiple counselors in a thriving counseling practice, Tying the Knot has already guided many couples into a stronger and more joyful union. Let this eight-week premarital study reorient your life and marriage around Christ, so you both will experience all the blessings of marriage as God designed it.




Gospel-Centered Family Counseling


Book Description

Pastors and counselors regularly minister to people whose marriages or families are in crisis. Tempers run high and feelings are brought low when a marriage is hurting or a family is in disarray. Pastors and counselors need practical, biblical help in order to connect their theological training to the reality of modern messy relationships. These how-to training manuals provide relevant, user-friendly equipping for pastors, counselors, lay leaders, educators, and students, enabling them to competently and compassionately relate God's Word to marriage and family life.




Marriage Counseling


Book Description

Marriages are in trouble today. That is clear. Effective mothods of combating this trend are less evident. Counselors, pastors and social workers need more than mere theories or mere moralizing. They need a practical and comprehensive model for understanding couples and their problems. They need a throughly Christian perspective that is biblical, compassionate and human. Everett Worthington provides this in an integrated, biblically based theory of marriage and marriage therapy with analysis at three levels: the individual, the couple and the family. The model he has constructed, with techniques drawn from the major psychological schools, is standard enough to guide counselors in actual interventions and powerful enough to produce change. A thoroughgoing overview of the assessment process includes practical, workable guidelines for: creating realistic, mutually-agreeable goals for counselor and clients; estimating the number of sessions needed to reach those goals; and planning the actual assessment, intervention and termination sessions. Next Worthington offers specific techniques for enhancing cooperative change, intimacy, communication, conflict resolution and forgiveness within the marriage. But keeping couples from slipping back into old patterns is one of the counselor's most difficult tasks. So Worthington concludes with suggestions for solidifying change and effectively concluding the counseling relationship. Here is a text that will be a standard for counselors, pastors and mental health professionals in the years to come.




Before You Say "I Do"®


Book Description

Build a Love that Lasts At a time when more people are delaying marriage or writing it off altogether, those ready to walk the aisle will appreciate a frank and trusted resource to help them start marriage on the right foot. This practical guide will help you explore your relationship in depth and will provide new insight into your partner and how the two of you relate to one another establish your wants and needs as individuals and a couple before your marriage begins lay the groundwork for open and honest conversation for a stronger, healthier marriage reveal how life events and family background can influence decision making in finances, family, education, faith, and career engage you in activities that lead to thought-provoking discussion addressing your past experiences and current expectations Engaging and easy-to-use, Before You Say "I Do" is full of tried and true wisdom to help you plan for your future and build a lasting relationship with the one you love.




The Hard Questions


Book Description

A revised and expanded edition of the classic relationship book that has helped thousands of couples shape a shared vision for their lives together. With this simple-yet-profound relationship tool, Susan Piver shows couples at any stage of their relationships--whether they are considering engagement, have been married for decades, or just want to deepen their connection--how they can forge and strengthen lasting, intimate bonds. Focusing on key areas such as home, money, work, community, and family, The Hard Questions contains 100 thought-provoking questions for couples to ask each other, including: • What will our home look like? • What are our professional goals? • How do you feel about sharing our life on social media? • Will we try to have children, and if so, when? The Hard Questions provides couples with guidance and support for having the kind of conversations that will lead them to a deeper understanding of each other and a happy, healthy, and prosperous future together.




The Happy Couple's Handbook


Book Description

If you're about to walk down the aisle, you want every day to be as happy as your special day. However while there is lots of advice on planning a wedding, there's precious little to prepare you for the rest of your life together. If you're lucky your mother will offer a few tips and your father will makes some jokes but otherwise you're on your own. Perhaps it's some years since you promised to love and cherish each other and the pressures of everyday life have taken the shine off things. Throw in the sort of crises that everyone faces at some point—like financial problems, losing a parent, family rows and infidelity—and it's easy for the love between the two of you to be seriously damaged. So what are the secrets of happy couples that stay strong rather than grow apart? In this groundbreaking book, marital therapist Andrew G. Marshall, explains that it's not chemistry that keeps partners connected but skills. It's likely that you didn't learn these skills as a child because your parents didn't know them or couldn't explain them. Maybe they avoided conflict, fought like cat or dog or split up when you were young so never showed you to fall out safely, make-up and resolve differences. Fortunately, it's never too late to learn how to communicate better and repair your relationship—even if you're on the verge of splitting up. Marshall draws on thirty plus years working with over three thousand clients to give you his tried and test tool kit for a happy marriage. It includes: - The rules for constructive arguments. - How to be a better listener. - Use carrots rather than sticks. - How to forgive and move on.