How it all Works



Our Team:


The Marriage Mentoring Initiative is led by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott who have been the thought leaders in the world of marriage mentoring for over 15 years. The Parrott's and the MMI team have developed a marriage mentor certification process to help your church educate, equip and nurture a certified team of marriage mentors.   


Your Church:

We are glad you are taking the time to discover how your church can engage with the Marriage Mentoring Initiative.  The local church is at the heart of our strategy because we believe that God has positioned you and your church to have the greatest impact on the marraiges and families of your community.

What if your church was known in your community as the place to go for help with a struggling marriage? Every day you see the challenges that the marriages of your community face. As you engage with the Marriage Mentoring Initiative by raising up, training and supporting marriage mentors, your church will become the place for marriages to heal and grow.

Stronger Marriages:

Which brings us to the goal of the MMI: To partner with the local church in helping them become a place where marriage is honored, supported and strengthened through a focused and strategic marriage mentoring ministry. Our goal is to make starting this marriage ministry as simple as possile for any church, regardless of size.  While we intend to help you launch this new ministry well, we also think of you as a long-term partner to help your marriage mentoring ministry become and remain successful.



Educate:
 
Our team has put together a proven, simple and cost effective way for your church to begin meeting the needs of the marriages in your community.
 
  • Marriage Mentoring Initiative (MMI) provides training for marriage mentors.
  • MMI provides a certification process to ensure your mentor couples are prepared to mentor well.
  • MMI provides an opportunity for committed married couples to serve in your church family.
  • MMI provides ongoing support and resources through books and workbooks for couples or small groups.
  • MMI provides ongoing support and training through our monthly newsletters.
Equip:
As our team has worked with churches around the country, we have yet to talk with a church member or staff that doesn’t recognize the challenges of the marriages in the church and want to do something to help. God has given Christian congregations the responsibility to foster lasting and joyful marital unions, empower strong and healthy families, minister to hurting individuals, provide hope for struggling marriages and fragile families, and provide an environment for deepening healthy relationships. 
 
How does a church foster and encourage marriage relationships that thrive?
 
  • A Marriage Mentor Program in your church provides an opportunity for relatively-happy, experienced married couples to connect on a deeper level with younger married couples in an intentional relationship.
  • A Marriage Mentor Program in your church provides a platform for building stronger marriages through mentoring and couples' small groups.
  • A Marriage Mentor Program helps marriages thrive by improving relationship awareness both for the mentor couple as well as the mentoree couple.
Nurture:

As mentor couples begin to meet with their mentoree couple, a surprising thing happens.  We receive story after story from our mentor couples that they are the beneficiaries of the mentor/mentoree process!  This is what we call the 'boomerange effect'.
 
"Mentoring another couple causes us to talk about our own marriage more than we ever have before.  We are enjoying some of the best conversations we've ever had because of it." Anthony and Rebecca, Married 41 years. 

“Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10: 24-25
 
Did you know:
 
  • 90% of marriage conflict is resolvable when both sides understand the perspective of their spouse.
  • When asked if people wanted to mentor another couple, surveys reveal that 59% agree or strongly agree that they’d like to have this opportunity to mentor a younger couple.
  • When asked if people wanted a mentor, surveys reveal that 62% would like to find someone to mentor them in their church.
  • When asked if people wanted a mentor, surveys reveal that 92% said they would especially like to have a mentor to help them through times of conflict.
The Complete Guide to Marriage Mentoring, Drs Parrott, Study by: Shane Fookes, “Marriage and Family Mentoring,” Family Life white paper (2004)   
What is marriage mentoring?
resource type: video     uploaded: January 31, 2011
Why is marriage mentoring important?
resource type: video     uploaded: January 31, 2011
Is Marriage Mentoring an alternative to Marriage Ministry?
resource type: video     uploaded: January 31, 2011
What is the Marriage Mentoring Initiative? (MMI)
resource type: video     uploaded: February 2, 2011
The MMI is a simple, proven and cost effective strategy to help your church become more intentional in ministering marriages. The MMI will allow you to strengthen the marriages of your church by helping you identify, resource, train and support a marriage champion couple who will lead the charge in beginning a marriage mentoring ministry in your church.
pastors_les
resource type: video     uploaded: February 2, 2011
lay person_les
resource type: video     uploaded: February 2, 2011
mentor champion_les
resource type: video     uploaded: February 2, 2011
Have a question for Us?
resource type: link     uploaded: February 8, 2011
Click on the icon to submit a question to the Marriage Mentor Initiative team.