Published: Wednesday, Jul. 15, 2009 / Updated: Wednesday, Jul. 15, 2009 05:07 PM
Church program wants to steer couples away from heartache
INDIAN LAND --
No one is immune to crises in their marriage; not even Gov. Mark Sanford, whose dalliance with an Argentine mistress became national news. Noting the many pitfalls that couples can stumble in to, Higher Ground Church in Indian Land wants to help local residents protect their marriages and prevent crisis, infidelity and even damaging arguments from occurring.
The church is sponsoring a seven-week program, “Making a Good Marriage Better,” beginning Sunday, Sept. 13. It will be led by John and Wendy Godfrey of Marriage Rescues Associates of Charlotte.
“We felt like it was a great opportunity to offer this type of series to the community,” said Sandra Bernard of Higher Ground Church. “We just think it's great for people with good marriages to come in and fine tune and improve on their communication skills.”
Wendy Godfrey said that the weekly programs will focus on topics such as communication skills, conflict prevention and resolution and forgiveness. Each week will also include group and individual exercises led by the Godfreys to help the participants work on the topic of the week, as well as group discussions and question and answer periods.
“We don't want it to be boring, we want it to be fun and interactive,” Wendy Godfrey said. “When you are working in a group, the participants can kind of bounce off each other. When one couple has question or is sharing some struggles, it can affect all the participants in the group.”
Godfrey said she and her husband typically work with couples who are in the midst of marital crisis, often working with them in two and three day intensive workshops. Working with couples before a crisis occurs is especially rewarding, she said.
Godfrey has worked for 21 years in pastoral marriage counseling. She has a bachelor's degree in health education and a master's degree in clinical counseling, and a pastoral ordination from National Christian Conservative Church.
“This is geared for couples that just need some improvement in their marriage, like most couples can,” Godfrey said.
The cost for the program is $30, including lunch and free child care. For more information or to sign up for the seminar, call the church office at 802-3189.
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