Preparing for Marriage [Paperback]

David Boehi (Author), Brent Nelson (Author), Jeff Schulte (Author), Lloyd Shadrach (Author), Dennis Rainey (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 17, 1997

Preparing for Marriage, along with the accompanying Leader’s Guide, were developed to help engaged couples prepare for the important task of building a Christian marriage. This resource provides engaged couples opportunities to develop good communication skills and deal with issues of personal expectations, family histories, role responsibilities, communication, finances and the traits of a biblical marriage. It encourages the development of a mentoring relationship with an older married couple.  Each session includes informative Bible study, discussion questions and special projects to be completed by the couple to reinforce the topic of the session. The study can be used by counselors, groups or individual couples.  Has 6 sessions

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Married couples begin their lives together with a vow of lifelong love and devotion . . . but many walk down the aisle unaware of all that promise entails. Now you can help engaged couples make their vows with open eyes and hearts, fully prepared for the hard and rewarding work of building a strong and lasting Christian marriage.

Created by FamilyLife, one of America’s leading marriage and family ministries, Preparing for Marriage is a dynamic, comprehensive premarital education program designed to lay the foundation for a biblical, fulfilling marriage. As a supplement to Preparing for Marriage, the Preparing for Marriage Leader’s Guide is an invaluable tool for pastors, premarital counselors, mentor couples and small-group leaders. Inside is everything you need to help engaged couples establish a lasting relationship built on an unshakeable foundation: Jesus Christ.

 

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

DENNIS RAINEY is the president and cofounder of FamilyLife, a division of Campus Crusade for Christ. Dennis and his wife, Barbara, have spoken at FamilyLife conferences across the United States and around the world.,Dennis serves as the daily host of the radio program, FamilyLife Today, where Barbara is a frequent guest. Dennis and Barbara have written several books. Both agree that their proudest achievement is their six children (with three more grafted in through marriage) and two grandchildren. The Rainey’s live in Little Rock, Arkansas.
JEFF SCHULTE is a fellow and director of the Sage Hill Institute, an initiative for authentic Christian leadership. He is a graduate of Yale University, earned two masters degrees with highest honors from Western Seminary, and speaks nationally and internationally on biblical masculinity, fatherhood, spiritual formation, leadership, and relational authenticity. He and his wife, Brenda, have six children.
LLOYD SHADRACH is a teacher in residence at Fellowship Bible Church in Brentwood, Tenn., which he co-planted in 1997. Previously he worked with FamilyLife for 13 years. Lloyd is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Lisa, live in Franklin, Tenn., with their three children.
BRENT NELSON is a graduate of Trinity College, and earned masters degrees from Indiana University and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He worked for many years with Campus Crusade for Christ and FamilyLife, and is now involved in church, vocational, and adoption ministries. He and his wife, Cass, have four children and live in Franklin, Tenn.
DAVID BOEHI is a senior editor at FamilyLife and editor of the HomeBuilders Couples Series. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri journalism school and has served with Campus Crusade for Christ since 1976 and FamilyLife since 1988. He and his wife, Merry, have two married daughters and live in Little Rock, Ark.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: Gospel Light (October 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830717803
• ISBN-13: 978-0830717804
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #440,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT for pre-marital counseling February 13, 2004

By Stay-at-home mom in Mizzou

Format:Paperback

Our pastor recommended this book be used for our pre-marital counseling. My husband and I each had our own book and would go throught the chapters seperately. This helped when we got together with our pastor every week, because our answers were honest. I felt this book helped us think about the expectations we each had for different aspects of marriage. Ex: who does the housework? how much do you spend a month on food? what type of debt do you bring into the marriage? how often do you expect to have sex? It also encouraged us to discuss issues from our pasts that we didn't believe to be relevant, but would have affected our marriage down the road. We really enjoyed this book, but as with any pre-marital counseling book the key is an AWESOME pastor.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended Preparation for engaged or pre-engaged July 29, 2000

By Philip Sylvester

Format:Paperback

My wife and I went through this book before we were married and found it to be so helpful. This is a hands-on tool that will help you to explore your relationship and find God's plan for marriage. It also fleshes out the topics that are ESSENTIAL in any premarital counseling. My wife and I have a stronger relationship as a result of this book.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Great appetizer, but missing the meat and potatoes April 4, 2011

By Stanley M Laskos

Format:Paperback

After finishing this book I was a little dissatisfied. We bought this book after a pre-marriage retreat and read it over the next several weeks.
Let me begin with what I liked. It was very spiritual and outlined how an ideal spiritual Christian marriage should look like. It gave a good starting point for a young, newly engaged Christian couple to begin from.
That was also one of the books downfalls. While it was spiritual, it gave very little insight into practical Earthly matters. It was not even till near the end of the book that even money was discussed. While the author did note that one of the biggest downfalls of marriages arises from disagreements about money, they gave little practical application. He spoke of being a good steward with God's gifts, but not really how to carry that out. The budget worksheet was only introduced with two sentences and four bullet points, hardly sufficient in my mind.
Both my fiancé and I have been on our own for a while and we both took note that it lacked for practical application. Some of the discussion points could get long and tedious and at times ambiguous. In our own conversations before this book I feel that we covered more ground on our own than with this book.
Would I recommend this book to others? I would say if you are young, have not lived on your own, and have not attended any other counseling, than yes this book will give you a good starting point. However if you are older than 25, attended other workshops or counseling, or have lived on your own, than I would pass this up and search out another study.