Michigan—It has been called the "Sleeping Giant" of the Church! Across the country couples are developing mentoring relationships with other couples in their churches. Throughout history mentoring has been the primary means of passing on knowledge and skills, and a new ministry at Pioneer Memorial Church has been established to improve new couples' chances for lifelong love, and to vitalize our church family.

Intended for engaged and newly-married couples in their first three years of marriage, happy and more experienced couples are committed to empowering these couples through sharing resources and relational experiences. The first training for those interested in becoming marriage mentors was held on Sun., Feb. 22, with six couples in attendance.

"The training was really helpful. It was cool and encouraging sitting with older couples, and it made us appreciate the joy of marriage longevity and that it is still possible today. The training revealed our strength, fallibility and need to depend on the Master. It was also a moment of reflecting on some core marriage values.

"Being a mentor is a privilege, interesting journey we guess, sharing our joys and sad moments, strength and weaknesses, hopes and fears with another couple in view of helping them believe that they, too, can live happily by making Christ the center of attraction in their marriage," shared Ugochukwu and Esther Elems.

Another marriage mentoring training session is scheduled later this spring. For more information about being a mentor couple, being mentored or starting this ministry in your church, contact Don or Susan Murray, Pioneer Memorial Church Marriage Mentoring Ministry coordinators, at 269-983-8092 or via e-mail at solutionseekers@sbcglobal.net.

Susan Murray, Marriage Mentoring Ministry coordinator, Pioneer Memorial Church