Canandaigua Community Marriage Policy
We, the clergy of the Canandaigua area, have a vision for marriage and of married life in our community that is grounded in God's Word. We look to a future where a man and a woman enjoy the hope of a life-long marriage relationship, where separation, divorce, and broken families are the rare exception, and each child has the opportunity to grow up in the security and stability of a two-parent family.
We envision preparing couples for married life by providing adequate counseling and trained mentors who can share their wisdom and experience.
We envision working together as a faith community to provide resources for strengthening marriages, for helping blended families, and restoring marriages "on the brink."
We envision pastors in the Canandaigua area joining in a covenant relationship working together to promote vitalized marriages and families.
Therefore, we the clergy in the Canandaigua area will:
- Encourage a courtship of at least one year.
- Promote chastity outside of marriage and faithful marital relationships.
- Provide four to six months of marriage preparation utilizing both Scripture and a premarital inventory for those wishing to be married in our churches.
- Encourage newlyweds to attend two post-marital sessions with a clergy and/or a mentor couple within the first year of marriage.
- Encourage all couples to attend seminars, retreats, classes, and other activities designed to enrich their marriage.
- Create a support system consisting of couples whose marriages have successfully weathered life's challenges with honesty, forgiveness, and caring to serve as mentors to work with engaged couples, newlyweds, or those experiencing marital difficulties. Seek to establish support systems for blended families.
- Encourage clergy to be supportive the terms of this policy. Cooperate with other congregations and organizations to share resources in order to create a positive climate in which will promote successful and fulfilling marriages.
We believe the adoption of this policy and implementation of its standards will help strengthen the marriages sealed in our churches. We will seek the endorsement of these standards by our congregations and will encourage other congregations to do the same, for the Glory of God and the good of our whole community.
