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Making a Marriage

Strategic Marriage Initiative

Building Successful Marriages in the Church

Marriage Enrichment LogoThe Strategic Marriage Initiative (SMI) is the result of collaboration between the offices of the Board of General Superintendents, Sunday School and Discipleship Ministries International Department, Adult Ministries, and the Family Life Ministries to help stem the tide of divorce in the Church of the Nazarene and in our society.

SMI seeks to enlist churches to become proactive and intentional in the building of strong marriages through the training of pastors and key couples in the local church in the areas of premarital preparation, marriage education, Nazarene Marriage Enrichment, and marriage crisis intervention.


Premarital Preparation: We are encouraging every local church to accomplish the following goals:

•  Provide pastoral training in a premarital assessment inventory to be used in their premarital counseling.
•  Development of an official church board policy regarding premarital preparation for every couple getting married in the church.
•  Create a plan of premarital preparation that will include assessment, education, and God's plan for a Christian marriage.

Marriage Education: Each church should take advantage of available resources to use in Sunday Services (preaching), open small group settings, and seminars to educate couples and families regarding what it takes to build lifelong marriages and healthy families. 

Nazarene Marriage Enrichment: NME is a program that takes couples beyond information to actually experiencing what a strong and vital marriage relationship involves. This is a small group program that teaches relationship skills through experience in a safe, but intense, setting. We are providing events across the country that will train NME leader couples in this life-changing ministry. Our hopes are that every district and local church will:

• Send a key couple to a leadership training event.
• Encourage the development of a small group NME ministry in every local church.


Marriage Crisis Intervention: This program will provide the following resources for the local church:

•  Printed resources on saving marriages in crisis.
•  List of Nazarene counselors and therapists by district and region for referral purposes.

Additional Resources:


© Church of the Nazarene 2007