Who Can Benefit from Christian Premarital Counseling?

Taking that next step with your beloved by committing to marriage can be exhilarating and challenging. It can also be a time of growth in your relationship as you consider more deeply what it might look like to spend the rest of your lives together. Getting married can be equal parts daunting and mind-bendingly joyful, and you owe it to yourselves to start your journey as a married couple on the right footing by engaging in premarital counseling.

Every couple on the way to nuptial bliss has the opportunity to make use of premarital counseling. Not every couple, however, manages to take advantage of this, and they are the poorer for it. Premarital counseling is an excellent way to prepare yourself for marriage. It can also strengthen your bond and commitment to each other by giving you clarity about your decision to marry one another.

Christian premarital counseling: What is it?

Premarital counseling is a form of talk therapy that a couple moving toward marriage can make use of. A couples’ counselor will meet with the couple, or couples in the case of group counseling. For six or more weeks, the counselor will meet weekly with that couple to prepare them for marriage. That preparation usually takes the form of addressing key issues and questions that often affect marriages.

Some of the key issues covered in marriage counseling include discussions about money, roles in the marriage, goals, how to deal with conflict, handling infidelity, thresholds for divorce, the meaning of marriage, and boundary setting.

Likewise, it will cover how to relate to in-laws, handling spirituality as a couple, and parenting. These are the issues that many couples face in their marriage, and they are brought front and center in premarital counseling.

The goal behind premarital counseling is to equip the couple to handle these common issues that affect marriages. Premarital counseling helps the couple build a troubleshooting kit, so that they can meet marital challenges head on. Not only that, but premarital counseling creates a platform for the couple to explore important questions that they may not have discussed in detail or at all. It helps them think about what lies ahead.

Sometimes during premarital counseling, the couple will discover that they have a deep disagreement about an issue. For instance, one of them might not want children at all, while the other partner wants several children.

This conversation is better had now, before getting married, because it could cause enormous heartache to discover it after the fact. In this way, premarital counseling helps couples to make an informed decision about their next move.

Christian premarital counseling tackles all this from the specific perspective of the Christian faith. Thus, the counselor will consider and explore questions such as the Christian understanding of marriage, the resources available for Christian couples to resolve disagreements, handling finances in a godly manner, and how the couple will navigate their relationship with each other and the Lord, for instance.

The benefits to the couple

It might seem like the only people who would benefit from Chistian premarital counseling are people whose faith commitments align them with the Christian faith. However, anyone can choose to go for Christian premarital counseling, whether or not they subscribe to the faith. There are many principles rooted in the biblical story that can be of immense benefit to anyone, and not just to Christians.

For instance, it’s no mystery that if you think of yourself and your needs first, that’s likely to result in mutual frustration, as well as a relationship that looks more competitive than supportive.

Christians learn from Jesus that it is more blessed to give than it is to receive (Acts 20:35), that serving others and loving them well is what greatness is all about (Mark 10:42-45, Philippians 2:5-11), but these truths are borne out by everyday reality, too.

Christian premarital counseling has the same benefits as other types of premarital counseling – helping the couple think about what their commitment means, giving them tools to handle conflict and disagreements, making them aware of the various issues that can cause marital discord, and equipping them to make a wise decision about whether or not to move forward. All the while, the couple learns how to communicate better, among other things.

Christian premarital counseling is beneficial for any couple that desires to enter their union thoughtfully, that wants to strengthen the foundation of their relationship, and that wants to build an appreciation of their own strengths and weaknesses as individuals and as a couple. If you and your beloved are thinking of getting married, consider Christian premarital counseling. It will prepare you and equip you to build a marriage that lasts.

When you are ready for this next step, contact our offices first. We will arrange an appointment with a qualified therapist with experience in pre-marital counseling. They will be delighted to get your marriage launched from a healthy place.