Talk to couples face to face – people like to be invited personally.

You can give them an invitation for information so they can think and pray about it. Remember to write your contact details in the invite and DO follow up couples by phoning them to find out their decision. Invitations which you can print off and complete can be downloaded from this website (Either as an A5 or DL leaflet)

Invite couples to the Introductory Session (which includes a nice supper) after which they can decide if they want to continue. It is worthwhile mentioning that Together is designed to help couples who want to invest in their relationships and make a good marriage better.

It’s often better to talk to the women first because they are usually quite keen. Men can be very hesitant. It’s important to put to rest any fears they might have.

If appropriate make it clear what the group is not. A group isn’t:
– couples’ counselling
– group counselling
– teaching from the ‘front’
– telling people how to live their lives
– only food, fun and casual chat

Reassure them that they will NOT be required to talk about their own relationship in the group. The group will involve learning together … and it will be fun!

Ask the husbands if they would consider coming as a ‘gift’ to their wives.

Here are some common objections and suggested responses:

‘There’s nothing wrong with my marriage, so why should I do this?’ – Here’s how one couple replied to this question: ’A lot of friends asked – “what you doing a marriage course for, you got problems then?” to which our reply was “not yet, and hopefully with the groups help it will stay that way!” For us the course has given us time to talk about subjects we had skirted round over 16 years of marriage and ensure they didn’t become an issue in the future.

‘Don’t try to fix what’s not broken!’ – That is one way of looking at things. Another view might be that ‘our marriage is so important that we want to invest in and strengthen it.’

‘I’m too busy!’ – This can be a real issue or an excuse and you’ll need to handle this sensitively. It may be that investing quality time in the marriage is exactly what this couple needs!

Do you still have questions? Please read our FAQ.