Thanks for visiting our marriage ministry page! The heart of marriage is covenant. Biblical marriage was intended to be an earthly parable of God’s unconditional love towards His people. Not surprisingly, it is also one of the most difficult relationships to navigate and, left untended, can be the source of significant pain and heartache. For this reason, we place a substantial emphasis on marriage preparation.
We believe that a couple who understands the purpose of marriage and is committed to allowing God to transform their heart daily has the foundation for a Spirit-centered, joy-filled, covenant relationship. If you are engaged or in a serious dating relationship, we offer opportunities and relationships that we believe will set you on the right path toward a fulfilling, life-long marriage.
We also place great value on equipping married couples to grow in their covenant love. Reflecting Christ daily to one another is no small task! We desire for all marriages to find the healing they long for and the tools they need to live out a God-honoring marriage that endures to the finish line. Whether your marriage is thriving, barely hanging on by a thread, or somewhere in between, please consider getting plugged in to some of the marriage discipleship opportunities we provide.
Before Marriage
As you begin to look ahead to marriage, we hope that you will consider the importance of planning and preparation not just for your wedding day, but for the lifetime of marriage that follows. We recommend a couple begin their premarital preparation at least six months prior to getting married. Fellowship offers two unique equipping opportunities for couples to help launch them well into the beautiful covenant of marriage: Breaking Ground and Couple to Couple. We strongly encourage couples to take advantage of both of these opportunities, as they are different yet complementary.
For more information about our pre-marital class or mentoring, contact Annelie Williams.
Twice a year—in the fall and in the spring—our marriage ministry offers a class for seriously dating or engaged couples called Breaking Ground. This seven-week class will create an opportunity for each couple to break new ground in their relationship as they are exposed to relevant, biblical teaching. Each couple will experience this class as part of a small group of dating or engaged couples led by a seasoned and trained mentor couple. In tandem with your class experience, you will have homework each week designed to get you talking to each other about core areas of your faith and your relationship. This experience is designed to assist any seriously dating couple to determine their readiness for marriage and help those who have already made that decision. Register for the Fall Premarital Class
In addition to our premarital class, we offer premarital mentoring for engaged couples that we call Couple to Couple. This is an opportunity to spend 8-10 meetings with a mentor couple, which includes working through an assessment tool called Prepare/Enrich and a premarital book called Preparing for Marriage (Family Life). Your mentor couple will help create a safe place to talk through both the knowns and the unknowns of combining your lives together in marriage. To sign up for a mentoring relationship, please fill out the intake form.
After Marriage
If your marriage could benefit from the wisdom of a mentor couple who is a few years further down the road of life, we invite you to consider our Couple to Couple mentoring relationships. Couple to Couple for marrieds involves meeting with a mentor couple in their home for 4-8 sessions. The curriculum is tailor-made to your unique situation, according to the area(s) of your marriage you would like to grow.
For more information about marriage mentoring, contact Annelie Williams.
Re|Engage is a marriage enrichment program. Marriages in any condition can benefit, whether you are struggling to get along, your marriage is broken, or you simply want to grow closer together as a couple. Re|Engage examines God’s design for marriage and applies heart-focused biblical principles to guide couples towards growth and intimacy in their relationship with each other.
The next 15-Week Re|Engage class starts January 15, 2024 at the Brentwood Campus.
Weddings at Fellowship
Requesting a Fellowship Pastor to Officiate Your Wedding
Fellowship pastors are always honored to be asked to officiate a wedding! We believe that officiating a wedding is the culmination of a pastoral process, rather than merely the performing of an event. Since we take this responsibility seriously, we ask couples to enter our premarital process at least six months prior to their wedding. This allows the potential officiant an opportunity to get to know the couple and ensure they are adequately prepared to become one through the covenant of marriage. If a couple joins this process later than the optimal time frame, we will certainly do our best to work with them and equip them accordingly. However, in light of our convictions about the process, it is highly unlikely we will be able to accommodate a last-minute request for an officiant.
What does the preparation process look like?
Every couple married by a Fellowship pastor is required to do premarital training. This can be done with the pastor, a mentor couple, or by attending our seven-week class. See above information regarding Couple to Couple and Breaking Ground. A couple’s premarital preparation at another church can also satisfy this requirement. If the officiating pastor is not doing the premarital counseling, he will still want to meet with the couple two to three times to get to know them better, to discuss how the premarital mentoring is going, and of course to collaboratively plan the wedding ceremony!
It is our hope that every couple under our care would strive to honor God with their relationship and make lifestyle choices that align with the Bible’s teaching on relationships and marriage. If the mentor couple or officiating pastor have concerns about a couple’s readiness for marriage or their willingness to submit to God’s authority, they may recommend postponing the wedding or even canceling it altogether. The officiant may also choose to withdraw themselves as a candidate for officiating. As difficult as any of those decisions would be, our commitment to upholding the integrity of God’s design for covenant marriage is our sacred responsibility.
Reserving Fellowship Bible Church for your Ceremony or Reception
Fellowship’s campus is available for wedding use by people who consider Fellowship to be their home church, or children of family members who consider Fellowship to be their home church. There are many events taking place at Fellowship year-round.
It is important for a couple to make the necessary reservation months ahead of time. To request the use of Fellowship for your wedding and to see the fees and policies associated with this request, please fill out the Wedding Request Form below.
Upcoming Events
There are currently no scheduled events. Please see our full church calendar.
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