From this Day Forward
Helping Couples Prepare for Married Life. Produced by FLAME in the Norwich
Diocese
PRESENTATION
The second edition (1999) of a low-cost, no-frills, plastic wallet containing
A4 cards with ideas for marriage preparation, incorporating many ideas
used in the FLAME network. Originally designed to accompany a four-week
leader training course, it has been supplemented in order to help leaders
get started.
COST
Pack £6.50
handouts for the couples are photocopiable. Included in the pack is an
example of a professionally designed wedding card for the leaders of the
course to give to couples to remind them of the significance of the day and
the vows that they made. These are available in packs of ten, for a further
£5.00.
CONTENT
The content of the pack is based around four topics. How well do we know
each other?; Values, expectations and roles; Communication and
problem-solving; and Money, sex and in-laws. The resources are intended for leaders
to pick and choose and photocopy what they like according to their local
situation. They include information sheets, case studies and questionnaires
developed by a variety of people and acknowledged where possible. No assumptions
are made about the Christian knowledge of couples or whether they live
together already or not.
The first section is taken from the training course for leaders and is
a very helpful summary of ideas and resources for leaders. It covers purpose,
principle, practice and how to manage groups. This section would be very
helpful for churches that are starting out on marriage preparation.
The last section bases preparation on the Anglican marriage service itself
and would be particularly useful for Anglican clergy taking the service.
APPROACH
The pack is not intended to be a definitive marriage preparation manual
but a resource to help people get started and to design their own course.
Within Norwich Diocese, FLAME co-ordinators use this pack as the basis
of a brief training session to help leaders get started. It recommends
that marriage preparation is best done in teams and with groups of couples.
OVERALL VERDICT
A tried and tested, sensible pack, which contains a lot of information
for £6.50. It is straightforward with few pictures. The worksheets
might appear a bit plain to couples. However, the pack would be an excellent
starting point for leaders starting out on marriage preparation and could
be easily supplemented. Indeed, the pages are deliberately not numbered
because the project is not seen to be closed.
Please note that although we have endeavoured to check the facts,
this review reflects personal opinion and is not an official statement from
Churches Together for Families. All reviews of resources are the personal views
of the group that prepared the material for this web site.
© Churches Together for Families, 2001
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