Our next relationship seminar is Saturday, November 4. Matins will be at 8:30 with the seminar beginning at 9:30. Lunch and babysitting will be provided, so please RSVP to secretary.redeemer@gmail.com by October 29.

Who is the relationship seminar for? All adults. Babysitting is provided. The idea is that communication is the heart of all our relationships, not just our relationship to God and to spouses, but in every relationship and that we can all get better at it and be more deliberate about it.

What will be taught? Biblical theology about the centrality of words and speech for faith and for life. Communication techniques from popular books will also be reviewed and considered.

Our semi-annual relationship or marriage seminars are a direct response to the research shown in the book Endgame by John Van Epp and J.P. Degance. You can find out more about it here at communio.org/endgame. They claim that churches that hold these sorts of seminars have a significantly lower divorce rate than churches that just teach that the Bible says divorce is wrong.

Divorce itself, and the causes of divorce, are tragic. It is one of the worst traumas that a person can suffer and is particularly devastating to children despite the oft repeated lie that “children are resilient.” Can the Gospel heal the survivors? Of course. The Gospel can also heal those that are tortured in POW camps for years or are abused by their parents, but there will be scars. We want to preach the Gospel to survivors and help them. This seminar will help with that also. But if we can spare them the trauma, why wouldn’t we? This seminar will help not only those who are already married to avoid divorce, it will also help singles who might marry in the future, whether they have been married before or not, avoid divorce.