Marriage

Marriage provides biblically grounded encouragement and practical help for couples who want a Christ-centered relationship. Explore articles on communication, conflict resolution, intimacy, forgiveness, shared spiritual rhythms, and navigating seasons of joy and stress. You’ll find guidance for strengthening trust, serving one another with humility, and building a marriage that reflects the love of Jesus. Whether you’re newly married, rebuilding after hardship, or seeking long-term growth, these resources help you pursue a healthy, faithful covenant relationship.

November 1, 2021

Jerry Harris

The Greatest Love Song of All Time

By Jerry Harris What is the greatest love song of all time? Ask 10 people and you’ll probably get 10 different answers. It’s said music is the language of emotion, and if true, then singing is its spoken word. Our emotions come directly from being made in God’s image because our God is an emotional God—a God who feels. Our God not only feels emotions, but he also invented them . . . and some of the best emotions are called the fruit of the Spirit. That list in Galatians 5 begins with the greatest and highest of all emotions:

January 2, 2020

Megan Rawlings

Megan Rawlings

'Fire and Rain': The Power of a Praying Wife

By Megan Rawlings The lyrics of James Taylor’s song “Fire and Rain” (and this verse, in particular, “I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend . . .”) echoed in my mind as I thought about the past year. I’ve received an unbelievable number of calls from disheartened wives during the past 12 months. Many of these ladies live with men who struggle with porn, constantly threaten divorce, have affairs, and/or battle alcoholism. All of these women are Christians who are married to nonbelieving husbands; they all need reassurance they are not alone. I needed a success

July 17, 2018

Christian Standard

Church Celebrates Long-Married Couples

By Peggy Park It was a golden day in Lexington, Ky., on June 10, as Tates Creek Christian Church celebrated its annual Wedding Bells Sunday with 83 couples who have been married 50 years or longer. One couple, in fact, has been married 75 years. Ladies received white corsages while the men received boutonnieres, and all of the couples had their pictures taken. The couples were also recognized as a group during the worship service. Additionally, senior minister Tommy Simpson recognized the widows and widowers who would have been married 50 years or more. The church administrator and some members

February 9, 2018

Christian Standard

Ben & Pat Merold: Still Having Fun After 68 Years

By Kelly Carr   Ben and Pat Merold—most folks seldom say one of their names without the other, and that’s just fine with them. When they talk, you hear their love for one another, the joy they feel together, and the immense pride they have about the other’s ministry. One could easily declare that Ben and Pat Merold are who we all hope to be when we grow up! Ben and Pat share their story of a lifelong love for serving the Lord and for each other.   Jumping into Ministry The year was 1948. Pat, a freshman at Johnson

February 8, 2018

Christian Standard

Finding Joy in Marriage and Ministry

By David and Rachel Dummitt   For the last 22 years, my wife, Rachel, has been my partner, best friend, and comrade-in-arms. When I was asked to write about experiencing lasting joy in marriage and ministry, I immediately thought of her and how she has helped to build both our home and our church with strength, grace, and joy. So for this issue, I asked Rachel to share her insights and wisdom. When Dave and I married, neither of us could have imagined the journey God had in store for us. While both of us had grown up in the

January 31, 2018

Christian Standard

Love, Marriage, and Missions

Four missionary couples discuss how their marriages affect their mission work, and vice versa. By Emily Drayne Some aspects of marriage are hard. It’s not easy joining together two lives, two families, two personalities, and two upbringings under one roof. Success in marriage takes work and desire. With divorce rates at about 50 percent in America and even higher in parts of Europe, I’ve often wondered how missionaries are affected by this epidemic. Not only are missionary couples working and maintaining their marriages, but they might also be serving in a cross-cultural setting. Some are also raising children. Missionaries might

May 20, 2017

Tyler McKenzie

How I Know My Wife Married the Wrong Person

By Tyler McKenzie Today my wife, Lindsay, and I celebrate our five-year anniversary. Five years ago we tied the knot and took the plunge. Five years ago the cutest girl in Indiana was taken off the market! Five years ago we launched the beginning of the rest of our lives. Five years ago . . . And after five years, there”s no more hiding behind the dinner-and-a-movie façade of dating life. I can”t buy enough flowers to conceal it. I can”t open enough doors. I can”t say enough “I love yous.” She knows (and painfully, so do I) that she

May 19, 2017

Christian Standard

Of Manure, Porches, and Good Fights

By Arron Chambers All married couples fight at one time or another. It”s like a pile of manure landing on your front porch. You know what manure is, don”t you? Manure on your front porch is not a good thing. Not at all. It”s a smelly, disgusting, and completely unappealing in every way kind of thing. In my experience as a marriage coach, I”ve come to believe that every married couple will have a pile of “manure” fall onto their “porch” at one time or another. Bad stuff happens to good married couples. And when the unexpected pile of manure

February 14, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

A Command for Valentine’s Day

By Mark A. Taylor Sweetheart dinners, couples retreats, and sermons about love are all great, as long as they move us beyond the frivolous expressions typical of our culture”s shallow take on deep issues. When it comes to marriage, God has spoken. His command comes three times in Paul”s epistles, twice within a few phrases of each other. “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” Paul tells the Ephesians. “Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies” (5:25-28). To the Colossians, the apostle puts it this way: “Husbands, love

October 27, 2016

Michael C. Mack

The Pastor”™s Wife: 7 Discoveries She Wishes She Had Understood Sooner

By Michael C. Mack Christine Hoover has been a pastor”™s wife for 14 years and is author of The Church Planting Wife. She says when she and her husband, Kyle, started in ministry, she felt unprepared and afraid. After all, she says, “There is no training ground for ministry life for the pastor”™s wife, there is just the doing it.” If she could go back in time to the beginning of their ministry life together, she says on her blog at www.gracecoversme.com, she”™d tell that young girl these seven things: 1.  Humbly yet boldly accept the opportunity to influence others

October 27, 2016

Christian Standard

The Trouble with Trying to Do a Good Job

By Angela Sanders Nothing sets up a person for failure more effectively than an intense desire to do a good job when the definition of that “good job” is vague, subjective, and a matter of public interest. I ought to know. I am a minister”s wife. For my husband, my church, and myself, I”ve wanted few things more than to wear well the title “minister”s wife.” Now, before you start tsk-tsk-ing me and pointing out problems with that statement, let me save you the trouble and admit that some of my thinking early on””and intermittently over the years””has been skewed.

May 5, 2016

Michael C. Mack

Reconnect, Reignite, and Resurrect Marriages

By Michael C. Mack “Marriage should be honored by all” (Hebrews 13:4). May is National Date Your Mate Month. Use this month strategically to promote and support strong marriages. The possibilities for your plans are as bountiful as your imagination and an Internet search on Christian marriage ministry ideas! For example, offer a special marriage workshop, providing a meal, music, and child care. Or provide free child care at the church building so couples can plan their own romantic date night. North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, offers quarterly date nights called MarriedLife. The purpose is to “help people

August 28, 2015

Michael C. Mack

Make Your Marriage Ministry Proactive

By Michael C. Mack How is your church helping married couples before they get into crisis mode? Lindy Lowry, founder of MarriedPeople (www.marriedpeople.org), says she”s found that while every church spends time and resources on helping marriages, efforts are mainly reactive rather than proactive (see the chart of her findings). Lowry has found five steps beneficial in developing a proactive marriage ministry: 1. Begin with the end in mind. What is the purpose of marriage? To reflect the relationship between Christ and his church (Ephesians 5:32). The purpose of your strategy should match that. 2. Empower and equip leaders. In

August 27, 2015

Christian Standard

What to Cover In Premarital Counseling

By Gary Zustiak When I do premarital counseling, I require a five-session commitment from the couple. Here”s what I cover in those sessions: Session 1: Basic Information I get to know the couple by asking how they met, how long they”ve dated, and how long their engagement is. I have them answer the five questions from H. Norman Wright”s book, Before You Say “I Do.” Then I ask them to list 10 ways their families are similar and 10 ways they”re different. Family Systems Therapy has found a number of characteristics, behaviors, ideals, and other factors are passed down from

May 22, 2015

Christian Standard

Preventing Regret

By Tim and Denise Harlow Yes, you can start over. But why not do the work now to create a marriage you can remember with quiet joy instead of sadness or shame? My son-in-law texted me a picture of my grandson during a special moment in our service, right after I”d preached about adultery. It felt like more than a coincidence. It felt like God saying, This is why you stay in your marriage and are faithful to your wife. I”m in a stage of life where I can spend a little more time looking back, which made this Scripture

February 14, 2015

Christian Standard

You Fight for What You Love

By Ryan Rasmussen My wife and I had recently moved across the country to Boulder, Colorado, in an attempt at a new life, a new ministry, and although unspoken, a fresh start to our relationship. We”d been married three years and had very little fruit to show from our commitment other than a 6-month-old daughter, who was the light in our darkness. I had accepted a student ministry position at a church in town and was excited about what God had in store for this new pastoral adventure. In the meantime, to supplement our income, my wife took a job

February 13, 2015

Christian Standard

The Case for the Case for Marriage

By Jenny Tyree Knowles What would change if the reasoned case for marriage was examined and taught to young adults, rather than implied and “caught”? The result of millennials (Americans born between 1981 and 2000) “catching” the cultural importance of marriage is playing out right now. Polls show that the broad majority of millennials support the redefinition of marriage. When the talking heads predict the future of marriage, they point to the current opinions of millennials to tell us that the redefinition of marriage is inevitable. So how will the church respond? What is at stake? Some believe it is

October 1, 2014

Christian Standard

A Bad Year, a True Hero, and an Invitation to Wonder

By LeRoy Lawson Diary of a Bad Year J. M. Coetzee London: Harvill Secker, 2007 The Ruby Ring: Tyndale”s Battle for an English Bible Karen Rees Crosslink Publishing, 2013 Unwrapping Wonder: Finding Hope in the Gift of Nature Carol O”Casey Greeley: Gladach Publishing, 2013 I suppose it is because “misery loves company” that books by or about other old people get my attention, but that”s not the only reason. Sometimes old people write very good books. And younger people sometimes write very good books about old people. In the case of J. M. Coetzee”s Diary of a Bad Year, we

May 1, 2014

Christian Standard

Six Myths About Divorce

By Paul E. Boatman “The Bible says. . . .” With that authoritative claim, many a sermon has articulated what sounds like a clear, scriptural doctrine. But the thoughtful Christian may observe that such assertions are often no more than opinions empowered by uncritical adoption of traditional, nonbiblical dogma. Several beliefs related to divorce are rooted in this blurring of mythology and doctrine.   Myth 1: Divorce is a sin. This assertion seems self-evident. After all, Malachi quotes the Lord saying, “I hate divorce” (Malachi 2:16*). Further, Jesus takes his audience to task for their cavalier divorce practices (Matthew 5:31,

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