Currently in development - Announcing opportunity soon - 

Marriages Alive! Couples Enrichment Program

Purpose and philosophy

Marriages Alive! is an eight-session tune-up for married couples. It strengthens what is working, names what is drifting, and sends each couple home with a written work plan. It is enrichment, not therapy, and its aim is prevention.

The healthy model leads. Most marriage help begins at the breakdown. This program begins with the picture of a living marriage, the Marriages Alive! model, and teaches couples to measure themselves against it. When repair is needed later, in counseling or at home, the couple already knows what they are returning to. Repair is informed by the return to the healthy model, not defined by the injury.

Three convictions shape every session:

• Grace perfects nature. Christ is the third strand of the cord (Eccl 4:12). Faith and sound psychology are partners, not rivals.

• Two whole people make one living marriage. Each spouse's own physical, relational, spiritual and emotional health feeds the marriage, and the marriage feeds each spouse.

• Love is a practice, not only a feeling. Skills such as listening, agreements and ownership can be learned, rehearsed and strengthened.

What couples leave with: a shared vocabulary for their marriage, a Marriage Dashboard reading of where they stand, one or two practiced skills, and a 90-day Work Plan they wrote together.

Sessions

1 Made for Love - Root Foundations  Gen 2:18, 24  "The strength is in the relationship."

         Take the Marriage Dashboard; tell each other "what first drew me to you"

2 The Threefold Cord - Transcendent, 3 Fold Cord  Eccl 4:12; Jn 15:5  "Grace perfects nature."

          Begin a 5-minute nightly couple prayer

3 Love Modeled on Christ - Christ Model: Attraction, Care, Forgiving, Sacrificial  Col 3:12-14; Jn 15:13  "Your life is not about you."

          Daily act of kindness exchange; one forgiveness conversation

4 Two Whole People - Individual/Self Care  1 Thess 5:23  "There's always an effect or impact for every action or inaction because you matter."

          Each spouse writes a personal care plan: body, mind, spirit, wounds

5 Same Team - Vision: Win/Win, Positive Sentiment Override  Eccl 4:9-10  "You're on the same team. If one of you loses, you both lose!"

          Five appreciations a day; reframe one recurring conflict as "us vs. the problem"

6 Your Yes and Your No - Ownership, Expectations & Agreements  Mt 5:37  "If you don't have a no, your yes means less."

           Name one unspoken expectation and turn it into a spoken agreement

7 Traffic Control - Communication: Speaking, Listening  Jas 1:19  "Seek more to understand, than to be understood."

          Speaker-listener exercise using Facts, Thoughts, Feelings, Wants

8 A Fruitful Life Together - Fruitful; Other Practices; The World  Col 3:23-24  "A Holy Purpose."

          Retake the Dashboard, write the 90-day Work Plan, renewal of vows blessing

If you would like to be notified of the availability of the next Session available, please register here.