The Education Department has been working on a marriage program for the United Church of God. The overall program has been approved and is ready to be developed.

The proposed program will have three facets:

1—A suggested video program that can be used by pastors (or their designees) in the local church area—something similar to a marriage version of “Growing Kids God’s Way.” It will include four to eight sessions and be conducted once a week or once every other week. These video presentations can then be used continually through the years for our members. The pastor can also use this material to supplement his marital counseling.

2—A UCG website for marriage-related material. This Web page will include subjects relating to marriage written by ministers and members of the United Church of God. Additionally, articles from biblically-based outside sources that can be useful to help our members strengthen their marriages will be researched. With permission from the authors, these resources will be placed on the website. Ministers and members alike will then have information they can use at their discretion.

3—Two-day marriage workshops will be available for congregations or circuits. This part of the marriage program is already available upon request. If you would like to be scheduled for one of these workshops, please send your request to Frank McCrady at frank_mccrady@ucg.org.

At this time we are looking for qualified volunteers who would like to be a part of the “marriage program team.” This includes ministers and lay members. We especially are looking for people who have a marriage-counseling license or a counseling degree, but we will not limit the field to those individuals. If you don’t have a certification but have experience or expertise in the study of marriage relations and want to be a part of the team, please send us your information as well. If you are interested in helping, e-mail Frank McCrady with your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. Please include all information that pertains to your background on this subject as well as any certification, license or degree.

We are planning sessions to explain the entire marriage program at the General Conference of Elders meeting in May 2012. It is our intent to roll out the entire program at that time. It is our greatest desire to be of assistance in helping our marriages to be the absolute best they can be. Please pray for the development and effectiveness of this marriage program.