Reasons to attend training Institute #113 - 6/1/07

[Smartmarriages]

I'm sharing this memo written by Mike McManus and sent to congregations on
the "1% Solutions/Famli" list explains why you should attend the Marriage
Savers Training Institute in Denver. Each community needs a Community
Marriage Policy to help turn the tide. Register at:
http://gotomylist.com/cme/smc05/smc07rf2.cfm  - diane

> 113 Two Days - Wednesday & Thursday, June 27, 28 - NO CEU
> Creating Marriage-Saver Congregations & Community Marriage Policies
> Mike & Harriet McManus
> Learn how to reduce the divorce rate to near zero in your congregation and
> slash city divorce rates in half by training Mentor Couples who can put a
> "safety net" under every marriage as they prepare couples for life-long
> marriage, enrich existing marriages, save 90% of the troubled ones, help the
> separated to reconcile, and stepfamilies to be successful. Learn how to create
> a Community Marriage Policy. $100 spouse discount.
> Click for more information: http://www.smartmarriages.com/marriagesavers.html


How To Radically Reduce Divorce & Cohabitation Rates by Michael McManus

Marriage Savers, the organization that my wife and I created a decade ago,
is the only group that has reduced divorce and cohabitation rates. For
example, 252 Austin pastors signed a Community Marriage Policy (CMP) in
1996. By 2001 its divorce rate fell 50.4% according to the Institute for
Research and Evaluation. Kansas City & Modesto CA¹s rate fell even more.
>From 1990-2000 cohabitation rates in114 CMP cities fell one-third lower than
very similar cities.

How? Marriage Savers helped clergy adopt 219 Community Marriage Policies in
which each church sends healthy married couples to be trained as mentor
couples to create a ³safety net² under every marriage by helping couples at
every stage of marriage achieve six great goals:

1. Avoid a bad marriage before it begins by administering a premarital
inventory to give couples an objective view of their strengths and areas for
growth. A tenth of couples who take an inventory decide not to marry. Those
who break an engagement have the same scores as those who marry and later
divorce. They have avoided a bad marriage before it begins.

2. Give "marriage insurance" to the engaged ‹ a 95% guarantee that their
marriage will go the distance. In our church in Bethesda, Harriet and I
trained 64 mentor couples. Of 302 couples we prepared for marriage from
1992-2000, 21 dropped out of the course, mostly to break up. Another 34
couples completed the process, and decided not to marry. That¹s 55 couples
who decided not to marry. However, of those couples who married, there have
been only seven divorces. That's a 3% failure rate - or a 97% success rate
over a decade ­ marriage insurance.

3. Enrich all existing marriages by conducting an annual weekend event at
the church, using a  marital inventory, speakers, or videos at a cost of
only $10-$15 per couple..

4. Restore four out of five troubled marriages with trained
"back-from-the-brink couples" (whose own marriages once nearly failed)
mentoring couples in crisis. A couple that was nearly driven apart by
adultery ­ but survived, has something to say to a couple in crisis over
infidelity. The older couple can say, ³We know adultery breaks trust, but
trust can be restored.  We have done it. Let us tell you our story.²
Wounded healers can save 80% of troubled couples.

5. Reconcile the separated using a self-guided workbook course, "Reconciling
God's Way." A same gender support partner meets with the spouse trying to
save their marriage for 12 weeks. The course helps the spouse to grow so
much they attract back half of separated spouses.

6. Help stepfamilies succeed by creating "Stepfamily Support Groups" to help
couples with stepchildren who normally divorce at a 70% rate, to save four
of five stepmarriages.

Marriage Savers has been featured on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Oprah, O¹Reilly,
Dobson.


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11th Annual Smart Marriages Conference, Denver Adam's Mark Hotel,
June 28-July 1, 2007
Downlaod a brochure: http://www.smartmarriages.com/Brochure.07.pdf

List your program and resources on the Directory of Classes at
http://www.smartmarriages.com

Order conference audio & video CD/DVD/MP3s: 800-241-7785 or
http://www.iPlaybackSmartMarriages.com

Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education, LLC (CMFCE)
Diane Sollee, Director
5310 Belt Rd NW, Washington, DC 20015-1961
http://www.smartmarriages.com
202-362-3332