Based on years of experience, here is a descriptive summation of a “typical” Marriage Plus student (there are always exceptions):
- Usually 20-32 years old, married five years or less
- Solid spiritual foundation: clear about their salvation and understand that there is a process for spiritual growth prompted by the Holy Spirit
- Acknowledge and have submitted to God’s authority in their lives
- Desire to serve Christ as a couple
- Open to change and have teachable attitudes
- Actively involved as a couple in a local church and are reaching out in ministry
- Have a healthy, growing marriage (Marriage Plus is not marriage counseling)
- Willing to make the time commitment to Marriage Plus training a high priority
Couples with these attributes fill out an application and are usually accepted into the course and gain the most from the training.
The one part of our lives that Marriage Plus really changed was in the area of communication. Being a couple of introverts, our listening skills were relatively well developed if somebody else was willing to talk. But if not, ‘conversation’ was just a series of long, awkward silences, punctuated by one word answers.
M+ gave us the skills to engage people (even, horror, people we didn’t know well) in significant discussions moving smoothly from circumstances, to the people, to the feelings, and finally to the values at work in a particular situation.