We are excited to share the revised and refined Creating a Gospel-Centered Marriage seminar series. After using this curriculum as the foundation for Summit’s pre-marital mentoring ministry since 2012, we learned many things we could improve. We also wanted to make the series more user-friendly as a small group study, so we did a thorough revision of the GCM series.
There are five seminars in the GCM series.
- GCM: Foundations — (video edition)
- GCM: Communication — (video edition)
- GCM: Finances — (video edition)
- GCM: Decision-Making — (video edition)
- GCM: Intimacy — (video edition)
Here are the highlights of what we changed:
- Each seminar was reduced by an average of 60%. Less is more. We don’t want couples to feel overwhelmed by the amount of information. We’ve learned what is most utilized in the GCM series and reduced the curriculum to those parts so couples can focus on the truths, and corresponding practices, that will bless their marriage.
- The evaluation tools were comparably refined and tied to each lesson. Instead of three evaluations per seminar, there is one evaluation. Each area of marital assessment is clearly tied to specific lessons within that seminar to help couples intuitively find the material that strengthens their weaknesses.
- Videos were created specifically for mentoring and small group audiences. The new videos were recorded in approximately15-minute segments per lesson, so they effectively set up a mentoring or small group discussion.
- Discussion questions were added to better facilitate conversations. Each lesson ends with seven questions for discussion. These don’t have to be the conversation prompts you use, but they’re there if you need something to prime the pump.
- Summit branding removed. While we use this curriculum at The Summit Church, many other churches have begun to utilize GCM as their pre-marital mentoring curriculum, so we removed the Summit branding to make it more inviting for other churches to use.
- The distinction between marriage preparation, marriage enrichment, and marriage restoration level care is made clearer. GCM is designed for marriage preparation and enrichment. If your marriage is in need of marriage restoration level care, we recommend seeking formal counseling, and then utilizing GCM as an aftercare resource.
We hope you will do three things with the GCM series.
- Use it to enrich your marriage. Go through the GCM series with your spouse or fiancé. Being a good spouse requires being a perpetual student of your spouse in each season of your marriage.
- Use it to create community for your marriage. To adapt Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for your marriage to be alone.” Isolated marriages tend to drift towards unhealthy habits. Consider studying one GCM seminar per year as a 5-6 week study in your small group to invite other couples to enrich their marriages alongside yours.
- Use it to invest in engaged couples. Couples that invest in their marriage are the kinds of couples that need to be investing in new marriages. GCM is designed to facilitate these kinds of mentoring relationships. Once you get to know the curriculum, go through the free, 30-minute mentor training, and let your pastor know you’re available to mentor engaged couples. Investing in young couples is a great way to bless and enrich your marriage.