The Pre-Marriage Course was developed in 1985 by Nicky and Sila Lee to help couples invest in their relationship to build a lasting marriage. It is for couples who are engaged and for those exploring marriage. There is no group work and each couple’s conversations are completely private.  Over five sessions, the course will help you to:

• Recognise the importance of commitment
• Understand and appreciate your differences
• Learn the art of communication
• Resolve conflict
• Spend time together
• Recognise the influence of your family background
• Develop a good sexual relationship
• Talk about your goals, values and dreams and much, much more…

To access and download all the materials to help run your course, please register your course on Marriage Builder. There are only a few resources you need to run The Pre-Marriage Course:

The Pre-Marriage Course episodes – available as to download online

• Two Guest Journals per couple
• The Pre-Marriage Course Leaders’ Guide
• Couple Survey (optional)
• Support Couples’ training videos (if using the Couple Survey)

The Couple Survey is an optional series of questions to be completed by guests before the course begins. The purpose of the Couple Survey is to:

• Affirm areas of strength
• Highlight those issues the couple needs to discuss
• Help them make sure they are ready for marriage
• Give a realistic view of what makes a marriage work

Couples do not receive the results of their Couple Survey. Instead following the course they have a discussion with a designated Support Couple. The Couple Survey report guides the conversation, affirming areas of strength in the couple’s relationship and highlighting issues for discussion.

The survey takes up to 30 minutes to complete, and should be done individually.

The Survey data expires 60 days after the course end.

Survey links and Reports can be sent multiple times, until the Survey expires.

Each couple on The Pre-Marriage Course is allocated a support couple. The requirements for support couples are simply that they are married; that they have completed The Marriage Course; that they are happy to host a couple from The Pre-Marriage Course, usually in their home, over an evening and that they have been approved by someone with pastoral oversight. During the evening the Support Couple guides the guests in conversation using the findings of the Couple Survey, which the guests would have completed before the start of the course.

The role of the support couple is to affirm areas of strength and highlight issues the couple needs to discuss. The Couple Survey report is very easy to use, with suggested follow-up questions for the Support Couple to ask the guest couple to facilitate the discussion. Once you register your course, you’ll be able to access dedicated training videos for support couples which fully explain their role. Head to Marriage Builder to get started.

There are five sessions to The Pre-Marriage Course:

• Communication
• Conflict
• Commitment
• Connection
• Adventure