GREATER THOMASVILLE COMMUNITY MARRIAGE DECLARATION
Established May 1, 2003
Representing various Christian faith communities, we share a common concern regarding marriage and the overall relational health of our community.
WE BELIEVE:
God has provided in the Scriptures principles for people to establish and foster healthy marriage relationships.
God has established the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, intended marriage to be a mutually healthy and loving relationship, and provided the Scriptural insight for every marriage to flourish.
God has called us as shepherds of Christian congregations and religious leaders to our community to uphold biblical standards for healthy marriage relationships.
God has given the community of churches the responsibility to invest in the future generation of marriage; prepare couples for marriage; empower all marriages; and reconstruct hurting marriages to raise the relational and spiritual health of our community.
THEREFORE WE WILL:
Urge young people and single adults to practice sexual purity in their relationships. We will provide tools and resources to help them make healthy choices, ensuring success in their present and future relationships, whether it is a lifetime of marriage or singleness.
Offer seriously dating couples the opportunity to invest themselves in discovering their “marriage readiness” prior to engagement.
Require engaged couples to attend at least eight hours worth of pre-marital education (either in class or one-on-one setting) over a preferred minimum of at least six months. Included in this time will be instructions on marriage, biblical insights to grow their marriage, and a relational inventory to help evaluate the relationship of the couple.
Advocate to married couples the importance of increasing relational health by providing or promoting relationship-empowering retreats, conferences, workshops, and resources, and also highly encouraging mentoring relationships.
Provide continuing assistance to reconstruct hurting marriages to complete relational health by promoting counseling, classes, retreats, and other resources that focus on Biblical approaches to reconciliation, mediation, restoration and spiritual wholeness.
Equip seasoned couples to mentor newlyweds who could gain from their relational insights and experiences.
Encourage church leaders to broaden their knowledge and expertise in areas of relational health, as well as expand the healthy relationship ministries available to their church and community at large.
Encourage one another as clergy to model strong healthy marriages to our congregations.
Cooperate with other congregations and organizations to create a support network to assist marriages and consequently families to develop and grow to their full potential.
We recognize that this Marriage Declaration acknowledges minimum, baseline standards, with the intention that each church will implement its own, more specific policies. While unusual circumstances arise on occasion that necessitate variance from these details, we are committed to practices that are consistent with and within the spirit of this Marriage Declaration.