LEADERSHIP TRAINING FOR PASTORS AND LAY COUPLES

Bridge To Life offers a two- and one-half day training program to equip you with the following resources:

How to start a marriage ministry in your church.

How to respond to a couple in crisis.

How to use the Heart & Soul of a Real Marriage 12 lesson study to guide couples to a deeper awareness of the barriers that hinder intimacy in their marriage.

When you finish the training, you will have a clear vision and the resources to offer an effective marriage ministry in your church.

Bridge To Life has offered help to marriages in crisis for over 36 years. From our years of experience, BTL offers the No Marriage Left Behind resource to help churches minister to marriages. When a couple calls for help in the midst of a marriage crisis, it can demand a lot of your time. Using the No Marriage Left Behind program allows you to have a formal strategy for responding to marriages with the help of your trained lay-led volunteers.

Marriages are struggling and dissolving at an alarming rate even in our churches.  Many times church leadership feels as though there is very little they can do about it.  Instead of standing by helplessly, the church can provide an environment for nurturing, enriching and restoring marriages.

Is your church prepared to help marriages when a couple in crisis calls? Some churches are able to respond to a couple in crisis.  However, most churches do not have any type of marriage program in place.

THE TRAINING INCLUDES

• First Response Kit Provides steps on how the church can respond to a marriage in crisis within 24 hours of receiving a spouse’s call.  The kit includes a booklet with immediate steps couples can take to begin healing their marriage and resources for the teaching couple.
• Connection to Additional Resources for Couples in your Church Bridge To Life offers a series of marriage course materials that take couples on a journey of building intimate marriage relationships. The first course, The Heart & Soul of a Real Marriage, is a 12-lesson study that takes a couple on a journey that examines the deeper wounds that each spouse carries into their relationship.  This study offers practical, biblical based resources to help couples on their journey of intimacy.  The second course, The Heart & Soul of Loving Well, is a 10-lesson study is designed for those couples who desire to deeper into their stories and how to minister to each other.
• Couple-to-Couple Marriage Mentoring BTL helps lay couples set-up mentoring ministry where they walk along side a struggling couple, providing hope, encouragement and healing.
• Training for
  • Church staff and lay couples on how to respond to marriages in crisis and how to set up a response team.
  • Implementing The Heart & Soul of a Real Marriage program into your church.
  • Learning how to use The Heart & Soul series in couple-to-couple mentoring, small groups, and classes.  The Heart & Soul of a Real Marriage series is also available on DVD (not included as part of the training fee.)

ADVANTAGES OF THE COURSE

• Frees up pastoral time by eliminating endless hours of hearing couple’s stories of hurt and anger. The program provides them with immediate resources designed to help each spouse examine their marriage and begin work on their individual issues.
• Gives you confidence to refer couples in crisis to your church’s trained lay leaders who have a passion to see marriages healed; with the assurance that the struggling couple will be helped by attending a program within their own church.
• Have a customized on-site marriage program to meet your church’s needs to assist marriages.  The program can be used in a one-on-one couple setting, a small group, or in a large class setting.  The key is that it is an ongoing program available to help a couple at any time.
• Enables your church to launch a marriage ministry and provide ongoing support and outreach to married couples in or from outside your church.
• Provides an opportunity for evangelism and helping individuals in their spiritual growth.
• Receive ongoing support and training from BTL on a quarterly basis. Meetings with BTL include new teaching resources and discussion with other church marriage ministries as they share what they are doing.

WHAT CAN DIVORCE COST YOUR CHURCH?

Dissolution of families

Loss of opportunity to minister to the children

Divisiveness in the church people taking sides

Affects other families & marriages

Encourages others to divorce

If not handled well, some people may leave the church

Sends the message that the church is no longer relevant

Reputation of the church is hurt

Loss of volunteers & leadership

Confidentiality  – loss of trust

Consumes staff time – hinders ministry

Loss of financial support

WANT MORE INFORMATION?

Special arrangements can be made for training to be conducted in your church or area. Call us directly for more information:  (800) 716-3677.