The Discipleship of Marriage

“I’m amazed that God just shows up every time. He takes a broken life that sees no hope of a future and as they’re sitting there together, hearing from someone else but hearing it together, it’s just an environment for God to work.”

Some couples arrive at a Weekend to Remember Getaway and can hardly look at each other. A husband and wife may be sitting right next to each other, but you can tell they don’t want to be close. Less than 48 hours later, God has brought a big turnaround in these marriages. Over the course of the weekend, walls come down and barriers are broken.

It’s been a busy few months for FamilyLife as they recently ran two of these Weekend to Remember Getaways in Taupo and Tauranga. These events in August and September were actually some of the first in-person events run by Family Life this year, because of the uncertainty around running events earlier in 2022.

The ministry had focused on online training and marriage mentoring until they could confidently run their usual weekends. With couples experiencing uncertainty in their own lives while being together in lockdown, there’s no doubt that learning about communication and conflict resolution is essential!

In fact, dedicating a weekend to their marriage is the opportunity couples need to step off the busy roller coaster of life and be immersed in the shared goal of a thriving marriage. Couples often cruise along and if they don’t have input, they can easily find themselves in a challenging situation that they don’t know how to get out of. Then they come to an opportunity of a weekend away where they’re having some amazing input and practical material that they can put into practice straight away and bring perspective to their marriage

One couple’s busy roller coaster of life had led to the husband threatening to leave just five days before the Weekend to Remember Getaway. They arrived broken, but after gaining tools and learning how to communicate, they left with renewed hope in their marriage. They thought that their only option was to separate and yet God picked them up and took them on a journey together towards oneness instead of separation and divorce.

Another couple shared that “we were at a breaking point before the conference and didn’t have high hopes that things would change, but they did.” Their turnaround wasn’t just of renewed hope, it was a new lease on life. They are now interested in becoming marriage mentors because of the profound impact that improving their marriage had for them. God had taken them from brokenness to wanting to help others in a broken position.

These Weekend to Remember Getaways aren’t just for the marriages that are falling apart like pulled pork, they’re for engaged couples and for couples with a good marriage that want a great one.

Maybe you’d like to give some attention to your marriage too, well don’t worry, we have some great resources here just waiting for you to use them. There may not be a marriage getaway happening in your area soon or it may be out of the budget right now, but you’re already on a computer where you can access ‘The Art of Marriage’ small group study kit.

Leading this small group study is just about facilitating the conversation and reading the leader guide beforehand, you don’t need to be a ‘leader’, pastor, or marriage guru. Anybody can run this study if they get the small group resources here and find some couples keen to improve their marriage too.

Another option for couples is to consider Marriage Mentoring. If you’re an older couple, you could mentor a younger couple or if you’re in the earlier years of marriage, you could be the ones getting mentored. This looks like meeting with another couple for two hours or so each month for a year and focusing on thought-provoking questions. It’s not designed to be like counselling for those really struggling, it’s just for couples with a good marriage that want it to be great.

Maybe God is putting it on your heart to run The Art of Marriage study with some friends or to become a marriage mentor. If so, click on the above links to see what that would look like for you.

If any married friends or family have come to mind while reading this, you could share these resources with them too, because all marriages need love and attention on the roller coaster of life.