Christian Associates Council Approves Landmark Marriage Statement and Guidelines For Churches and Clergy

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 13, 1999, the Council of Bishops and Judicatory Executives adopted a Statement on Marriage with Recommended Guidelines. Through this statement and guidelines, the association intends to help nurture and prepare men and women who are contemplating marriage as well as to help sustain those couples and families during the course of their married life in this world.

Among the guidelines is a recommendation that a church (where there is no other required time period) specify a period of four months of preparation for marriage and that at least one of the persons being married has a genuine connection with the church.

Other guidelines (A copy of the statement and guidelines are included in the release) suggest that marriage preparation should include at least:

-- the Scriptural teaching of marriage and family;
-- spirituality, prayer and worship;
-- Christian sexuality and intimacy;
-- finances and household management;
-- communication and conflict resolution, and
-- other ways to strengthen the marriage and family relationship.

Background

Various congregations in metro Pittsburgh/Allegheny County area, representing both independent evangelical and "mainline" Christian traditions, called for and brought into being a "covenant" to more adequately prepare couples for marriage and to help Christian couples. (1997-1998)

Member judicatory representatives, in CASP's Executive Council and Board of Delegates, propose a more comprehensive, inter-judicatory based approach on the part of Christian Associates. Discussion in September 1998 Board assembly and December 1998 Council session.

March 1999: Council asks CASP Theology & Education Committee to review suggested proposals and existing "covenants" ... compare statements of diverse member Christian traditions ... and come up with consensus proposal for common CASP statement and guidelines.

Theology & Education Committee recommends preliminary "draft" version of a common statement. May 1999 Council refers back to Committee, calls for redraft and combined Statement and Guidelines to be submitted, with input and review by Board.

September 1999: Theology & Education develops Statement and Guidelines package; modified version approved by Board.

October 1999: Council approves official consensus "Statement on Marriage, with Recommended (Pastoral) Guidelines."

Pittsburgh Baptist Association
Allegheny Union Baptist Association
Metropolitan Archdiocese of Pittsburgh - Byzantine Rite
Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg
Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh
Christian Church in PA
Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Southwestern PA Synod
African Methodist Episcopal, Pittsburgh Conference
African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Allegheny Conference
United Methodist, Western PA Conference
Antiochian Orthodox Christian, Archdiocese of North America - W. PA Deanery
Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese
Greek Orthodox, Diocese of Pittsburgh
Orthodox Church in America, Archdiocese of Pgh. & W. PA
Serbian Orthodox, Diocese of Eastern America
Polish National Catholic Southern Deanery
Presbyterian - Beaver-Butler Presbytery
Presbyterian - Kiskiminetas Presbytery
Presbyterian - Pittsburgh Presbytery
Presbyterian - Redstone Presbytery
Presbyterian - Washington Presbytery
The Salvation Army, Western PA Division
United Church of Christ, Penn West Conference

As churches who, in Christ, share our lives as we minister to communities throughout our region, we -- the member judicatories covenanted together in Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania -- witness to the vital importance and contributions of marriage and family life to the well-being of society. Likewise, we are mindful of the Church's mission to minister to the unity and stability of families.

Our churches have a distinct opportunity here: to help nurture and prepare those men and women who are contemplating marriage as well as to help sustain those couples and families during the course of their married life in this world. The fact is, nearly 75% of all weddings are witnessed by clergy.

Therefore, our churches and their pastors are in a position to make a crucial difference in helping couples and families to deal with the emotional, social, interpersonal, economic and spiritual dimensions of marriage and family life.

Each of our communions offers its particular ministry to families. Nevertheless, we feel that the needs of families, the increased patterns of interchurch marriages, and the unhappy incidence of brokenness in our society compel us to speak with one voice. We believe that, by our working together, the Church can make that vital difference.

While respecting the specific theological perspectives and pastoral policies which underlie marriage and family life ministry in each of our Christian traditions, we have come together and prayerfully committed ourselves to the following common "Statement on Marriage, with Recommended Guidelines," which reflects our shared mission and concerns as a whole.

"... From the beginning of the creation, `God made them male and female.' For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. `Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate' ..."[St. Mark 10:6-9].

We, the member churches of Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania, wish to affirm the sanctity of the marriage covenant and of Christian family life, in that:

-- Marriage is holy because it is a gift from God and has been ordained by God;
-- Marriage is a font of God's grace;
-- Marriage is blessed by Jesus Christ to be the foundation of church and society;
-- In marriage, through the seeking and doing of God's will, husbands and wives are called to be "leaven for society" and the "light for the world."

-- In the vocation of married life, the commitment of man and woman is life-long and exclusive;
-- The sexual union of a man and a woman has its proper place only within marriage dedicated to the doing of the will of God;
-- The marital union fosters the union of the couple in mind, heart, and body;
-- The marital union provides the best possible environment for the begetting, nurturing, and upbringing of children;
-- An authentic marriage is marked by complete, self-giving love, in the image of Jesus Christ and His love for the church;
-- From the same image of our Lord Jesus Christ, husbands and wives are called to commit themselves to a shared life of faithfulness, Chastity, and every Christian virtue.

-- We will encourage and assist our churches in providing and requiring a period of thorough and comprehensive preparation for every marriage;
-- We will encourage and assist our churches to give active support to marriage and family life;
-- We commit our churches and our energies in preaching, teaching, and ministry to the fostering of marriage and family life.

-- a time of marriage preparation is essential; where a church has no other required time period, we recommend a minimum of four months;
-- marriage preparation should include at least:
- the Scriptural teaching of marriage and family;
- spirituality, prayer and worship;
- Christian sexuality and intimacy;
- finances and household management;
- communication and conflict resolution, and
- other ways to strengthen the marriage and family relationship.
-- we expect people to live chaste lives, including the maintaining of sexual abstinence prior to and outside of the marriage covenant; -- effective marriage preparation programs include:
- consultations with clergy and/or other persons authorized by the Church;
- formal programs designed to help prepare engaged couples for Christian marriage;
- married couples who can serve as models and who are trained as mentors, to assist in marriage preparation.
-- we expect that at least one of the persons being married has a genuine connection with and membership in the church in which the wedding is taking place;
-- we encourage churches to provide ongoing pastoral care for marriage and family life, and we encourage married couples to avail themselves of the support which the Church can offer;
-- we encourage clergy to exercise a leadership role in helping couples to bond for life by:
a. participating in and promoting programs to enrich marriage and family life;
b. preaching on the theology of marriage;
c. modeling healthy relationships;
d. cooperating with the clergy of different churches during interchurch marriage preparation;

and

e. cooperating with the clergy of different churches to foster continued ministry to interchurch couples.

SOURCE:

Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania
http://www.casp.org