Gary & Ann Wooley
We met at Littleton High School in Colorado when we were 16 years old and “they said it was only puppy love.” Ann was from a Christian family of 4 girls and Gary was from a church-going family of 4 boys. Ann asked Jesus into her heart at camp when she was 12 years old. Gary asked Jesus into his heart at a Young Life camp when he was 17 years old. Gary jokingly calls Ann “his spiritual father” because she was doing “evangelistic dating” by taking him to her church youth group, Young Life meetings at her home and urging him to go to camp with her. After an “on-again/off-again” couple of years, we still knew that we really loved each other. We went to a college group retreat in California and it was there that both of us felt clearly called to full-time vocational ministry. So, why not get married and enjoy serving the Lord together? We were married at age 20 and began the long haul of finishing Gary’s time in the Navy and then finishing 9 years of school while doing ministry, working and starting our family!
Gary was trained at Columbia Bible College in South Carolina and Denver Seminary in Colorado. Ann studied at Colorado State University for 1½ years before getting married and took classes at Columbia Bible College and Denver Seminary as much as possible along the way. In 1980, after finishing seminary and raising support, we moved, with our sons (ages 8 and 11), to Vienna, Austria, to work with Biblical Education by Extension while on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. Gary was the Director of Curriculum and very involved in the writing of courses to be taught by BEE. We traveled, together as much as possible, to teach pastors and their wives in Eastern Europe. We were also very involved at the International Chapel of Vienna during this time.
We returned to Denver in 1984. After living at Denver Seminary as Student Advisors for a year, Gary was ordained and together we were responsible for the Small Group Ministry at a fast-growing EPC church. As a little something extra that we could do together, in 1986 we started our first Young Marrieds Class on Sunday mornings. We loved it! In addition, we continued to travel and teach in Eastern Europe during our church “vacation” times.
In 1988, we re-joined CRU staff and raised support again to continue our ministry in Eastern Europe long-distance and in 1989 we began the Young Marrieds Ministry at Grace Chapel. It was our great joy to see hundreds of couples come and go through the 16 years that we were there, hopefully better equipped to love and serve the Lord together.
It was during our time at Grace Chapel that our passion for helping couples (in the first few years of their marriage) really grew as we had more direct opportunity than ever before to help them understand about true oneness and the joy of living the Christian life as God intended it, together for His purposes and His glory!! For many it was the first time they were encouraged to consider what God might have planned for them when He gave them to each other.
A final note: our two sons are married now, each to a wonderful woman, and we are thoroughly enjoying being grandparents to their amazing children (ages 30,29,25,25,23). Next year, in 2024, we will both be 77 years old and we will celebrate our 57th wedding anniversary, 57 years in ministry together and 32 years as Marriage Plus International.
“We could go on and on about Marriage Plus! Our now adult daughters are probably the greatest testimony. They have heard so much about listening skills, accurate empathy, ministering together, bearing each other’s burdens, etc. They’ve already signed up for the course, trusting God to provide the husband. Marriage Plus not only gave us skills to deepen our relationship, but also gave us vision and purpose: TOGETHER ON MISSION WITH GOD. What a sweet journey!”
“The older we get and the more couples we encounter along the way, we become increasingly grateful for the opportunity we had to be part of a Marriage Plus group as newlyweds. The skills, life lessons and information about each other that was learned during the course created such an amazing foundation for a sustained Christ-centered marriage, and that has been and continues to be a true blessing!”
The Marriage Plus course has been an incredible blessing. The lessons we learned and the encouragement we received have been incredible in shaping our marriage and ministry. Throughout the course we were encouraged to plan and host fellowship evenings that focus on genuine fellowship, fun and the Lord. We have been empowered as a couple to serve together. This has been such a gift!”
In 1990 we began writing the Marriage Plus course. We would write a lesson together and then we would teach it the same week, “hot off the press”, to two separate small groups of 6 young couples. When the course was completed it was over 40 lessons (7 Units/230 pages) which, combined, take at least a year to complete. People told us that we would never get couples to commit to a course that was that long. Meetings are 3 out of 4 weeks each month, but we take a couple of weeks off in the summer and a week or two off at Christmas. Couples have been so faithful and so excited about growing beyond themselves! It was and is amazing!!
When leading M+ meetings we teach a topic, they practice as a couple what they have learned and then they as a couple practice in front of the group (sometimes the entire group practices together). We believe that skills and convictions must be built over time. Shortcuts just don’t seem to take hold. We rarely agree to teach weekend retreats for this reason.
We are so happy to say that in 1992 we officially became Marriage Plus International (a 501C3). By God’s grace, hundreds of couples have now been loved, mentored and trained through the M+ course in the U.S. And, the same can be said for many couples in Poland, the Czech Republic and Albania. We praise God for the Kingdom fruit He has given.
Today, we find that M+, as a multi-church, international, discipleship ministry, continues to reach many eager young couples. A recent group was made up of seven couples from six different churches. Many couples have gone on to serve in their churches in various ministries, in missions, in full-time ministry, in fellowship evenings in their homes and so on……….
We have discovered in our years of experience that the first seven or eight years of marriage involves so many adjustments and decisions! Couples (ages 20 to early 30s) really benefit from being nurtured and coached during this time in their lives. And they want to feel a sense of community with others who are going through similar things.
We believe it is important that couples be able to enjoy and experience three different types of community if possible:
With the rebirth of small groups as a major focus in churches today, there are fewer churches that provide a mid-size kind of community for young couples. We think this size group is so important.
It is with deep gratitude that we thank all of the individuals and churches that continue to contribute to this ministry. God makes this work possible through your gracious gifts. What a blessing you are!
In 2014, at the encouragement of our Board, we wrote a book for young couples called “ONE.” That book can be ordered from our website. It is a great tool for small groups of young marrieds!
Our mission is to disciple young married couples, helping them to grow in their marriages so that they are able to be more fruitful in serving Jesus Christ together. This is spiritual work and will bear fruit only as we follow and rely upon God.
| 1. | The sole basis of our faith is the Bible, God’s infallible written word, and the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. We believe that it was uniquely, verbally and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that it was written without error (inerrant) in the original manuscripts. It is the supreme and final authority in all matters on which it speaks. |
| 2. | There is one true God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. |
| 3. | Jesus Christ is God, the living Word, who became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. Hence, he is perfect Deity and true humanity unified in one person forever. He lived a sinless life and voluntarily atoned for the sins of men by dying on the cross as their substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who trust in Him alone. He rose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He lived and died. He ascended bodily into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father, where He, the only mediator between God and man, continually makes intercession for His own. |
| 4. | Man was originally created in the image of God. He sinned by disobeying God, thus he was alienated from his Creator. That historic fall brought all mankind under divine condemnation. Man’s nature is corrupted by sin, and he is thus totally unable to please God. Every man is in need of regeneration by the Holy Spirit. |
| 5. | The salvation of man is wholly a work of God’s free grace and is not the work, in whole or in part, of human works, goodness, or religious ceremony. Rather, God imputes the righteousness of Christ to those who put their faith in the Son alone for their salvation, and thereby justifies them in the Father’s sight. It is a privilege of all who are born again of the Spirit to be assured of their salvation from the very moment in which they trust Christ as their savior. This assurance is not based upon any kind of human merit, but it is produced by the witness of the Holy Spirit who confirms in the believer the testimony of God in His written Word. |
| 6. | The Holy Spirit has come into the world to reveal and glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to people. He convicts and draws sinners to Christ, imparts new life to them, continually indwells them from the moment of spiritual birth and seals them until the day of redemption. His fullness, power, and control are appropriated in the believer’s life through faith. |
| 7. | Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, His body, which is composed of all people, living and dead, who have been joined to Him through saving faith. God admonishes His people to assemble together regularly for worship, for participation in ordinances, for edification through the Scriptures and for mutual encouragement. |
| 8. | At physical death the believer enters immediately into eternal, conscious fellowship with the Lord and awaits the resurrection of the body to everlasting glory and blessing. At physical death the unbeliever enters into eternal, conscious separation from the Lord and awaits the resurrection of body to everlasting judgment and condemnation. |
| 9. | Jesus Christ will come again to the earth–personally, visibly, and bodily –to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. |
| 10. | The Lord Jesus Christ commanded all believers to proclaim the gospel throughout the world and to disciple people of every nation. The fulfillment of that Great Commission requires that all worldly and personal ambitions be subordinated to a total commitment to “Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.” |