I am preparing for Marriage
The journey leading to marriage is as important as the wedding itself. Our desire as a church is to help every engaged couple prepare well for their marital journey ahead. The following initiatives and resources are designed to help our couples do just that.
Our Heart
for Engaged Couples
“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favour from the LORD.” - Proverbs 18:22 (ESV)
The journey leading towards marriage can be a hectic one, filled with uncertainties, endless coordinations and worries. At RiverLife, our desire is to help give every couple the best possible start to their marital journey. Our heart is to help couples establish foundations in their marital journey that will be critical as they journey through life together.
The Marriage Preparation Course has been designed as the primary tool for us to prepare all engaged couples for marriage. In addition to that, we have also included the PREPARE-ENRICH Assessment where a couple mentor will help couples to identify the strengths and areas of growth for their relationship.
As you make preparations for the wedding, we would also like to encourage you to make relational, and spiritual preparations for the marital journey ahead as well! Let us journey together with you towards your marriage!
The Marriage Preparation Course
Content
The MPC uses Vertical Marriage for its video sessions. Vertical Marriage has 5 sessions:
- The Elusive Secret - Putting God First in Your Marriage
- Fight Me Like a Man - Conflict Management
- To Cheer & to Cherish - Understanding Differences Between Men & Women
- God in the Bedroom - Sexual Intimacy
- All In - Giving Your All in Marriage
MPC also touches on supplementary content which are relevant for couples - God’s design for marriage, financial stewardship and boundaries. The final session will also include a solemnisation briefing. As part of the course, couples are also required to do a PREPARE-ENRICH Assessment (~$50) that diagnoses a couple’s strengths and areas of growth. Thereafter, a PREPARE-ENRICH Couple Mentor will run through the results with the couple.
Timing
Each run of the course involves 3 Sundays, from 11.00am - 3.00pm.
The PREPARE-ENRICH Assessment
This is essentially a tool to help couples evaluate their relationship and help them get ready for marriage. It helps couples by:
- Increasing partner awareness of both the strength and potential growth areas
- Stimulates discussion concerning issues vital to the relationship
- Teaches valuable communication and conflict resolution skills.
- Functions as a preventive tool to help couples become aware of important issues before they turn into major problems.
Each of the couple has to do a set of questionnaire that is divided into two categories:
- 30 Questions on Background Information
- 165 Questions on Relationship Evaluation
The results of PREPARE are confidential and will be seen only by you, your partner and the PREPARE counsellors. The counsellors will see you as a couple after the assessment score is given and will counsel you on growth areas in your relationship. Do note that there is a cost involved (USD 35) per couple, which is payable via credit card when you start doing your assessment. (This is on top of the $50 paid for the running of MPC).
Solemnisation Application
You can apply to have a RiverLife Solemniser to solemnise your wedding. All our solemnisers are registered with Singapore’s Registry of Marriages. However, do note the requirements below should you require RiverLife to solemnise your wedding:
- Both Individuals are Believers Evidenced by Water Baptism
- Both Individuals are Rooted in a Spiritual Community (at least 50% of cell and service attendance or equivalent for non-RiverLifers)
- Both Individuals are Rooted in RiverLife, and Evidenced by Associate Membership (or equivalent for non-RiverLifers)
Pastoral Care
Our heart is for every couple to have the best possible start in their marital journey. Therefore, our desire is to help individuals who are getting married to be free, healed and restored if they have “baggages” within their lives. These “baggages” include traumatic events, unforgiveness, pre-marital sex, abortion, pornography addiction and divorce. We desire to see every individual be free from these “baggages” so that they can have a blessed marital journey ahead. If any of these baggages are flagged up during the application process, our FamilyLife staff will connect with you and arrange sessions for inner healing or counselling.
Resources for Engaged Couples
Articles for Engaged Couples
YouTube Videos for Engaged Couples
YouTube videos to resource couples preparing for marriage.
Podcast Episodes For Engaged Couples
Curated podcast episodes (on Spotify) for couples preparing for marriage.
Websites for Engaged Couples
Websites with resources that can help you prepare for marriage.
Prepare-Enrich