Engaged Workshop
- a Marriage Preparation resource

What is Engaged Workshop?

Engaged Workshop is a marriage preparation course designed to be used by local churches or other groups. It is based around a series of short talks, given by two or three married couples, on various aspects of the marriage relationship. It includes a number of short exercises to help the engaged couples express themselves to each other.

Engaged Workshop gives engaged couples the chance to begin their marriage with some well proven communication tools that will help them handle the conflicts and difficulties that arise in all marriages. In the process, it will also help the couples develop a better understanding and acceptance of one another.

Engaged couples will have the opportunity to see marriage as a lifetime of relationship building, creating a deepening love for one another.

Who leads Engaged Workshop?

The talks are presented by two or more married couples from the local organising group who, as well as providing specific teaching on different topics, will also share relevant experiences of their own marriage with the engaged couples.

What material does Engaged Workshop use?

The material for all the Engaged Workshop talks and exercises is provided to the local leaders as a manual with printed copies and a floppy disk of all the required material. All the local leaders need to add is their own examples and illustrations to the body of the talks. Guidelines and examples for these sharing sections are also given to help with preparing them. These illustrations are generally drawn from the leaders' own marriage, in order to share honestly and openly with the engaged couples what marriage is like. The material can be readily adapted to the group's own specific needs.

What topics are covered?

The workshop covers four inter-related aspects of marriage:

Communication - skills of recognising and sharing feelings and listening to one another are covered, followed by practice in using these skills.

Love - love is not just a feeling. We can decide to love someone even when the feelings are not there. Love can also be an action and a decision.

Handling of conflict - conflict and disagreements, even arguments, are inevitable. They can tear at a relationship but there are ways to enable conflict to strengthen a relationship.

Keeping marriage permanent and growing - the workshop presents building a marriage as a lifetime project which is quite possible.

Who provides the material?

Engaged Workshop was developed in the USA and has been run there since 1982. The material is offered by Marriage Resource and Marriage Encounter, two leading UK charities concerned with enriching marriage, who are jointly promoting EW in the UK. EW is provided on a non-profit making basis, with charges intended only to cover the costs of materials and national administration.

Why should we choose Engaged Workshop?

The EW material is a proven product which can be easily adopted in local areas to provide a sound marriage preparation course. The material is designed to make it easy for new leaders to start a course. Training and as much assistance as is required is available from experienced couples who will answer any questions, provide help to get local leaders started in running their own workshops and provide ongoing support, as needed.

How do we get started?

We highly recommend that local leaders start by experiencing what the Workshop is like by attending one before they start to prepare their own talks! Most people find this of great benefit for their own relationship anyway, even though they may have been married for years.

 Training workshops are offered for potential leaders covering the full workshop material and an opportunity to discuss any further matters.

What will happen then?

Following the training workshop, if a couple then wants to offer EW, we ask them to sign a simple agreement. They will then be sent the manual (and floppy disk) and will be put in contact with a couple who is familiar with EW and how it is run and organised. This couple will guide the new leaders as they write their talks and illustrations and as they set up their first workshop. The EW couple will be able to answer any questions the new leaders may have. If desired, the EW couple may be able to attend or help present the first workshop in a new area, until further local leaders can be found and trained.

How do we know if our talks are "right"?

Once new leaders have prepared their personal illustrations for one or more of the talks, we ask them to send the talks to an experienced EW couple, who will read through the illustrations, and any other changes they have introduced to the EW material. Positive feedback and advice will be offered to help to ensure that the personal illustrations and examples are appropriate and helpful to the engaged couples.

What does it cost to register for EW?

If a church or group decides to adopt EW, there is an initial license fee of £50-00 to cover our initial costs. This covers all the Engaged Workshop material and other costs like postage, telephone costs, etc. It also provides the group with as much advice on the end of a phone as is needed to help set up EW in their area. After the first year, there is an annual fee of £15-00 to cover continuing costs. Other payment arrangements are available if a couple wishes to run EW but is not a part of a group - please ask us about these alternatives. We also intend to arrange a leaders' training day on at least an annual basis, to provide further training, share practical advice on running and advertising workshops, and to get to know others who are running EW.

For further information please follow this link and e-mail us your enquiry.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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