Why I volunteer at a marriage course.

It sounds a bit incongruous right, considering I’m a single (never married) woman.

But I’ve been helping on-and-off for the last year at a marriage course that’s held at my local church. Lucky for the couples, I’m not the one giving marriage advice. I just hand out the desserts.

It’s something really simple. This week, I helped serve apple crumble and tea to a dozen couples on a Monday night. Yet I see this simple act as my part in building healthy marriages in my community.

The course content is video lessons from Alpha Marriage, along with private discussion for each couple while they get a little bite to eat. The course facilitators say there is usually one week that is a pivotal time for each couple; whether it be the week that focuses on family backgrounds, sex, finances or conflict resolution.

It’s really amazing to have these discussions in a nurturing environment, and maybe even talk about issues that have never been addressed in a marriage before. I believe that families are the core structures of our communities, and the people who head up those families are usually a married couple. So, what better place to start transforming a community than by developing a strong relationship between husband and wife.