Synopsis
This book addresses a pressing need in the church to strengthen and save marriages. When marriages fail, families are divided. This creates emotional, economic, and social havoc as each partner, their extended families and the church try to cope with the death of the marriage. Pastors are placed in the extremely difficult position of trying to restore the marriage and save the family, often with limited resources and training. During a pastors’ forum about marriage ministry, one pastor described marriage counseling as a black hole sucking his time and energy away from other members of the church and other duties. Another lamented that by the time a couple sought help, the relationship was broken beyond repair. Dr. Steve Stephens, a Christian psychologist, counselor, and author of more than 28 books on marriage and family, concurs and has identified several issues associated with pastoral counseling that can be addressed by referring couples to outside help. Amazingly, MarriageTeam coaching has proven to be extremely effective in addressing many marital issues by mobilizing the church body to serve thereby multiplying the effectiveness of the pastoral staff. Its success is based on a combination of teaching effective relationship skills and facilitating the application of those skills to create empathetic understanding and mutual agreements on how to work together in the marriage. As couples meet with highly trained coaches in a compassionate, supportive environment, learn effective relationship skills and practice those skills over a period of time, lasting, life change is the result. Dr. Stephens concurs and notes that 60-70% of the couples would not need to see him if they participated in the MarriageTeam coaching program.
About the Author
Autumn and Alan Ray were married in 1970 and are the founding directors of MarriageTeam, a non-profit providing affordable and effective marriage coaching services. MarriageTeam trains Christian couples as marriage coaches and places pre-marital and married couples with coaches for six to twelve weeks of skill building and application through the coaching process. Marriage coaching has proven to be highly effective for many couples who were on the verge of divorce. Together they authored Rick and Jane Learn to Listen and Talk describing the marriage coaching process. Alan retired from the Air Force and has an engineering degree and a Master of Science in Counseling and Human Development. Autumn has a Bachelor of Science in Social Work. Autumn retired from the Multnomah County, Oregon, Department of Community Justice, where she was the Volunteer Manager. Both have completed the Western Seminary program in transformational coaching. Together they are a certified Marriage Enrichment leader couple, Seminar Directors for PREPARE/ENRICH, and skilled trainers. Alan and Autumn have two children and two grandchildren.
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