Every new car comes with an Owner’s Manual. In addition to explaining all of the features,
specifications, and capacities of your new vehicle, the Owner’s Manual also includes a section on “scheduled and preventative” maintenance. The manufacturer guarantees that your car will have years of care-free reliability if you periodically give attention to basic maintenance. 

Unlike the dealership’s car salesman, the pastor who performed your marriage didn’t provide you and your spouse with an “owner’s manual.” However, wise ministry couples have learned that there is value in setting aside time for “scheduled and preventative” maintenance. With that imagery in mind, we welcome Dr. Don Lichi, Vice President and Psychologist with EMERGE Ministries, to our 2010 Ministry Couples’ & Colleagues’ Retreat. Don has served on the Alliance Board of Directors, is a member of the Sensitive Issues Consultative Group, and regularly provides pastoral care for our International Workers on several continents. Whether your marriage is running rough or simply needs some scheduled maintenance, Don has planned the following sessions for a routine marriage tune-up: 

Session 1: A Look Back — Everyone comes into marriage with a history. Win-Win Marriages begin with a closer look at our personal past. This session will explore our family of origin influences, generational distinctive, and the personal development factors which we brought to our marriage. 

Session 2: A Look In — Win-Win Marriages are also shaped by our internal temperament traits. This session will include a fun and thought-provoking exercise to help husbands and wives understand the personality factors they each brought to their marriage. The session will include an exercise for discovering your strengths. 

Session 3: A Look Together — Win-Win Marriages have a healthy theology of marriage as well as a healthy theology of the body. From our theological foundation, we will reexamine the covenant of companionship called “marriage.” 

Session 4: A Look at Broken Windows — Like blighted urban neighborhoods, one of the telltale signs of neglect in our marriages is the failure to fix or repair broken windows. This session calls our attention to the “broken windows of the soul.” 

Sessions 5 & 6: A Look Forward — Ministry couples must be healthy to offer care for others in our congregations and community. These sessions afford a closer look at the “best practices” for a healthy marriage. 

In addition to the exercises and activities, Don will provide a number of handouts to help ensure that we have healthy ministry marriages.