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Marriage
& Family Building Series
A
monthly luncheon series to help equip pastors, lay
leaders, and
clinicians
Mar.
12
Dr.
Ryan Jaarsma & Steve
Carter
"PRE
Premarital Prep: For
Youth"
"Supporting
Intimacy in Marriage: Challenges of the 21st
Century"
"Two
Churches, One
Marriage"
"Strengthening
Family Resilience"
11:30-1:00pm
Cost:
$10 each, lunch
included.
Call
616.455.5279 to
register
A
bi-weekly marriage program with mentor couples and
a facilitator
Mar.
6 & 20
Thornapple Covenant
Church
6:30
- 8:30pm
Cost:
free
Childcare
provided
Call
616.363.5078
A
weekly marriage prep class for couples marrying in
a court setting
March
1,15, & 29,
8:30am-12:30pm
Apr.
1, 15 & 29, 6-10pm
Apr.
12 & 26,
8:30am-12:30pm
Call
616.455.5279
A
research based, skills building curriculum
designed to help couples communicate more
effectively.
Pine
Rest O&A Building
Mar.
29, Apr. 26, June 3 & June
10
Cost:
$100 per
couple
Call
616.281.6450
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Pine
Rest Family
Institute
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1.
Talk to your pastor / church leadership about
starting The Third Option in your church
2.
Talk to your community center about how to get a
Family Wellness group
started
For
more opportunities, call
616.455.5279 |
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Reaching
Youth With Relationship
Skills
Sign
up for presentation of "relationship smarts" for
teens (Wednesday, March 12,
11:30am-1pm)
Divorce.
Cohabitation. Abusive relationships.
All
of these factors point to a larger
societal
need:
the need to provide
youth with the skills to build healthy
relationships. Pre-marital preparation is
a good start, but it is not enough. We
need to get
adolescents thinking about how
to make smart choices for themselves in
relationships.
The truth is, although they're very interested
in dating, teens don't know how to
date. They know what they've seen on TV,
and they know what they've read on the
internet. In fact they know a lot more
than their parents do about My.Space, blogging,
chat-rooms and other technological
wonders. What they don't know are the
tools for successful relationship
building. What we often don't know is how
to teach them and reach them in a way that they
can take in. This presentation will focus
on ways to make a difference in the lives of
teens, so they can establish early patterns of
healthy relationship building.
Click
here for information on
how to register for this luncheon featuring
Dr. Ryan Jaarsma and Steve
Carter. |
Bringing
"Family Wellness" to Grand
Rapids
Program
creators George Doub & Flo Creighton lead 4
day seminar in skill building
Just
last week, the Pine Rest Family Institute hosted
the 4-day, interactive instructor training for
Family
Wellness: Survival Skills in Grand
Rapids at the Postma Center. Thirty-four
facilitators (some from local agencies, some
from as far away as Florida and Las Vegas) were
trained and certified to teach Family Wellness
in their communities.
What
is Family Wellness you ask? It is a
simple, yet brilliant program that teaches
families how to work better together by learning
how to speak, listen, and
cooperate.
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Third Option
Smoothes Marriage's Rough
Spots
As
appeared in the Grand Rapids
Press
on
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Erik
and Laura Christian have been married more than
nine years, have three children, and are clearly
in love.
But
love alone cannot prevent all of their problems,
and frustration sent them to their pastor, the
Rev. Allen Pickett, of Knapp Street Reformed
Church.
Pickett
referred them to Third Option, a new
church-based marriage program with mentoring at
its core. Volunteer mentors serve as living
examples of how couples can get through the
tough times and come out strong.
Click
here
to read the rest of the article by Kristina
Riggle.
Click
here to
find out how you can join The Third
Option. |
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Overcoming
21st Century Challenges to Intimacy
in Marriage
As
Christians, we are taught from an early age to
abstain from sex until married, and many of us
were rightfully excited for that day to
arrive. However, once married, many
Christian couples find that they are
disillusioned or disappointed or that they are
not prepared to deal with the challenges they
face in the bedroom.
Unfortunately,
the culture of the 21st Century does
little to help foster healthy marriages,
especially with respect to sex.
Click
here for
the rest of Remi's article.
Click
here for information about
registering for the April 16 Marriage and Family
Building Series luncheon with Remi
Rakipi. |
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Healthy
Marriages Grand Rapids (HMGR) is a nonprofit
501(c)3 organization dedicated to helping adults
and young people learn skills which enable
successful relationships and marriages. We
serve as an advocate and resource for marriage
education and support programs which help teach
relationship skills. HMGR is
non-political, and our activities are funded
through support from private donations and the
Pine Rest Family Institute.
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