MarriageTeam Ministries
Collaborative Marriage Ministry
Ministry Model
HOW TO BE INVOLVED
EQUIPPING COUPLES
PASTOR’S FAQ
MarriageTeam Ministries (MTM) desire is to serve the church by strengthening and saving marriages. We recognize that the church is empowered with the resources it needs to accomplish this task.
We invite church leadership into a trust-building, exploration of our mission and what we wish to provide.
We support and encourage pastors to invest in their church’s marriages with or without our partnership because our mission is our end goal and relationship is our highest value.
We commit to taking time to consider your concerns and respond positively to your ideas or suggestions, before offering the unconditional gifts of our experience and insight.
We desire to partner with you to accomplish your objectives for building strong marriages and future generations of believers.
MarriageTeam Ministries’ tools were developed through the Spirit and within the Church and exist to unleash gifts already present in your church for His transformational work.
Ministry Model
MarriageTeam Ministries provides a marriage coaching program that equips your church to create and sustain an effective couples’ coaching ministry. We recognize that the church is empowered with the resources it needs to accomplish this task and are blessed to be a part of what you are doing.
MarriageTeam trained and equipped coach couples volunteer their time to the good work of saving marriages using the MarriageTeam program. We have a small paid staff that processes couples seeking coaching and supports the coaches with training, materials, coaching and anything else they need to be successful. It is our privilege to work along with you to elevate the importance of marriage as the reflection of Jesus’ relationship to his church and the building block for healthy families, churches and communities.
The MarriageTeam Ministries program provides for:
- Preparing couples for marriage
- Enriching married couples
- Healing marriages and create healthier families
These elements are available independently or all together. This “documentary video” illustrates how marriage coaching celebrates the spiritual gifts God has provided in the church to overcome divorce and its devastating impact on our Christian witness. It encourages coach couples to share their gifts by serving other couples who need help. We work with and support you for an effective, biblical solution for helping and healing marriages in your church or community.
Of those couples considering divorce, some 89% decide not to divorce after completing the marriage coaching process. The video has several testimonials of couples who were really struggling.
Watch How
HOW TO BE INVOLVED
We honor your commitment to providing your congregation with resources to help couples in their relationships. MarriageTeam programs have proven that couple to couple coaching is highly effective.
MarriageTeam Ministries provides a turnkey marriage coaching solution to support whatever current programs you have. When you decide to utilize the MarriageTeam coaching program, you can expect the following:
- Personal coach training that equips couples in your congregation to become marriage coaching couples.
- Professional intake and evaluation of every couple to be coached.
- Coaching placement services that support your needs.
- Personal coaching support for your coaches, 52 weeks of the year.
- Program evaluations at the conclusion of a couple’s coaching experience.
- Ongoing coach training by live online webinars.
Next Steps
- Identify couples to be equipped as marriage coaches – we can help with that [SEE FAQ].
- Refer couples seeking coaching (premarital, enrichment, or restoration) to MarriageTeam.
- Call us if you have any questions or would like supporting collateral for training or referring couples.
MarriageTeam Coach Training
- The MarriageTeam coach training is now being offered Live, Online to Christian couples who want to coach others with MarriageTeam.
- Additional trainings available as needed. Call for more information.
PASTOR’S FAQ
WHAT DO OTHER PASTORS SAY ABOUT MARRIAGETEAM MINISTRIES?
Dr Gary Chapman, Pastor, Author of The Five Love Languages
If you are a pastor, I know that you feel the pain when you see couples in your congregation divorce, and all of us have experienced that. A few years ago, I met Alan and Autumn Ray; they started a ministry called MarriageTeam in which they train lay couples to be marriages coaches. MarriageTeam will take couples in your church and it will train them so that you have someone that you can refer couples to who are struggling. Over 89% of those couples who go to their coaches find real help and turn away from divorce. I want to challenge you to check it out. I think you will find this to be a great partner for you and your ministry.
Ed Wilgus, Lead Pastor, Family Church, Sutherlin, Oregon
Our church participated in MarriageTeam Coach Training in January 2012 and now has several coaching couples in our church. One new coaching couple experienced some major challenges with the couple they were coaching. They contacted the Marriage Team office which was quick to respond to the need and were able to direct the new coaches to successfully work through the challenges. By the way, the couple they were coaching were separated when they began Marriage Team Coaching, today they are days away from completing coaching and are back together under the same roof and experiencing renewed relationship.
As a pastor, I have found MarriageTeam to be a great resource. I have great hope today for the marriages in our church because of our relationship with MarriageTeam. I am excited to finally have a coaching system that allows lay couples the opportunity to rescue hurting marriages and to have coaching couples available through MarriageTeam who give a hurting couple the best chance for marriage success that I know.
Dave Morris, Lead Pastor, Hillside Christian Fellowship, Portland, Oregon
Marriage Team trainings are excellent, with 24 hours of excellent material and an amazing equipping… and the fee is $0.00!!! We have trained couples now at Hillside and they are doing great… They signed up for coaching, and since walking with their coaches to a healthier marriage, they have become coaches… Additionally, we’ve had several of our young engaged couples go through Marriage Team for their pre-marital counseling with their ‘trained’ lay people… these amazing coaches have spent time with these young peeps, and even shown up to their weddings… they have become amazing mentors through relationship… Imagine: “‘Saints’ equipped to ‘do’ the works”… amazing!! I cannot overemphasize the amazing blessings being in relationship with Marriage Team… an amazing opportunity!
Don Hallworth, Community Groups/Discipleship Pastor, Journey Church, Bend, Oregon
I was first introduced to MarriageTeam by my sister and her husband as they shared how much it had enriched their marriage to coach couples who were struggling. Having now gone through the training provided by MarriageTeam, my wife and I were very impressed with the structure and approach of this ministry. There are several components of MarriageTeam training that lean heavily on Biblical principles that I believe help create the success that this ministry has enjoyed.
1. Sanctity of Marriage – Rather than the coaching couple sharing giving advice, the emphasis of coaching is to build within the marriage that is in trouble. There is a real emphasis upon the mystery of what God has joined together. MarriageTeam is structured to get the troubled couple working through things together – communication, bitterness and forgiveness. There is something deeply God honoring by holding up the sanctity of this marriage working together no matter how broken it may be.
2. Paul’s “One another’s” and Hebrews 10 – “Spurring one another on” – The Apostle Paul uses the phrase “one another” over and over again. We are to encourage one another, admonish one another, confess to one another and bear one another’s burdens. When a marriage in trouble begins to experience another couple pouring their time and genuine care into the hurting couple, I believe they deeply experience the power of “one another” ministry and they are genuinely “spurred on.”
3. The Power of the Holy Spirit– I think the part of MarriageTeam that has been most profound to me is the emphasis on what we do and what God does. I deeply appreciate that there is recognition that the exercises and discussions are merely tools for God to do something enduring in this broken marriage.
4. Equipping – Ultimately as Pastors we are the equippers that Ephesians 4:11 speaks of. The MarriageTeam ministry is the best tool I’ve seen to release couples in our churches to help facilitate stronger marriages. Through significant training weekends, ongoing support and well written communication tools, you can have great confidence that hurting marriages in your church will receive Biblically rooted help.
I have never experienced such a practical resource to strengthen marriages as the program that MarriageTeam offers. I encourage you to find out more about how this ministry can help you build marriage strength in your local church.
Charlie Granade, Senior Pastor, Ridgeview Bible Church, Chadron, Nebraska
WHAT RESOURCES DO YOU USE TO WORK WITH COUPLES?
MarriageTeam Ministries uses the internationally acclaimed PREPARE/ENRICH Inventory as a resource to supplement the coaching process. The inventory has been given to more than 3 million couples. It was revised in 2008 to include a personality profile that is very helpful. MTM also uses a workbook that addresses communications, anger, bitterness, forgiveness, conflict resolution, problem solving, appreciating personality differences, intimacy, goal setting and creating mutual accountability for change, all with a biblical perspective.
WHAT MAKES COACHING MORE EFFECTIVE THAN MENTORING?
MTM uses the coaching process to facilitate lasting change. Change comes when new knowledge is applied. The coaching process teaches new skills and helps couples apply them to achieve better outcomes. It also ensures complete understanding of the issues, explores options for change, facilitates agreements on what changes will be implemented, and creates accountability for following through on the agreements. Coaching does not involve meals, desserts or social time. The relationship is focused exclusively on learning and applying improved relationship skills. Also, coaches do not give advice. Typically, mentor couples meet, often over a meal or dessert, discuss material they have agreed to review together, share what has worked for them, and pray for one another. While this is great for relationship building, it is not as effective in helping the mentee couple change their behaviors. Coaches are highly focused on helping couples reframe thinking and implement changed behaviors.
DOES COACHING USE A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE?
WHAT MAKES COACHING DIFFERENT FROM A BIBLE STUDY OR PASTORAL COUNSELING?
Coaches are trained to use the coaching process to help couples discover what will work specifically for them. Scripture is used to inform and challenge couples in their thinking as they are creating agreements around specific behavior changes. The process creates accountability for achieving common objectives.
HOW WILL I FIND QUALIFIED COUPLES TO BE COACHES?
We have found that there are couples in every congregation that would love to help struggling couples if they just knew how. MTM suggests a two-pronged approach. First, ask couples you believe would be good coaches if they would attend training to learn more and become coaches. Second, open it up to the congregation and take volunteers. MTM will help with the screening via the ENRICH Inventory and the training process. Couples who successfully complete the training not only are not only qualified to coach another couple, but also feel qualified to coach another couple.
HOW DO COACH COUPLES GET SUPPORT WHEN THEY RUN INTO A PROBLEM?
HOW DO I KNOW THAT MARRIAGETEAM MINISTRIES IS CAPABLE OF STRENGTHENING AND SAVING MARRIAGES?
• Family Life Local recommends MTM as a ministry it approves after reviewing its program for biblical content, practicality and moving couples closer to Christ.
• Communio uses MTM as part of its “Full Circle Relationship Ministry” to serve marriages in need.
• Read the testimonials from couples, coaches, and pastors.
• Look at our program outcomes:
• A PREPARE/ENRICH study found that couples who completed MarriageTeam coaching almost tripled their Communication scores and increased by two and a half times the Conflict Resolution scores.
• Couples who complete coaching rate their experience an average 9.1 with 10 being the best.
• Distressed couples who complete coaching report an average improvement in their relationship from 3.8 to 7.6 on a ten-point scale (100% improvement).
• We track results and have found that roughly 30% of couples who enter coaching have talked about divorce. Over 85% of those who complete coaching decide against divorce.
HOW DOES MARRIAGETEAM MINISTRIES WORK WITH PASTORS AND THEIR STAFF?
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST A COUPLE FOR COACHING?
MarriageTeam never denies services for financial reasons and has limited scholarships for those who simply cannot afford the help. Currently the cost for up to 12 coaching sessions that are 2 to 3 hours is $599. For premarital, not previously married, non-cohabitating couples the 6 coaching sessions cost $359. Terms are available and MarriageTeam works closely with couples to ensure no one is denied coaching for financial reasons. Having said this, there are a couple of reasons why we ask that couples pay for these coaching services:
• Couples who pay for services do much better in coaching than couples who do not pay.
• The ministry is able to offer these services at significantly reduced prices because of its many donors. Nevertheless, donations do not cover the entire cost of providing the services. The cost to the couple for 25-30 hours of coaching is about $20 per hour. This is significantly less than a counselor or pastor would be paid to provide comparable services.
Furthermore, there is a money back guarantee. “If you believe you did not get your money’s worth from your coaching experience, put it in writing and we will refund your money less the inventory and materials ($85).”
HOW ARE THE COACHING FEES USED?
1400 NE 136th Ave, Suite 201
Vancouver, WA 98684
Main Office: (360)450-6042
Toll Free: (866)831-4201
Fax: (952)556-9442