Considering getting married at Christian Life Center?
The following guidelines adopted by the pastoral staff should help you decide.
We are church committed to developing successful marriages and your wedding ceremony should be a sacred and meaningful occasion. And even though these guidelines cannot assure 100% successful marriages, we believe that following these guidelines will allow for a smooth functioning wedding ceremony and later eliminate many of the unnecessary marital conflicts.
1. Only those persons who attend Christian Life Center on a weekly basis will be considered for a wedding at the church. Weddings can be held off-campus by a pastor upon approval. One of the applicants must have been attending Christian Life Center six months prior to making application for a wedding by a pastor.
2. Realizing that there must be a strong foundation of spiritual principles, we submit that both partners should be committed to oneness in Christ and totally secure in that belief. We further submit that both partners must be committed to the desire of ministering to one another if there is to be a true union in spirit, soul and body.
In the event that there has been a recent conversion to Christian principles, we encourage a time for strengthening this experience before marriage.
3. We require all persons seeking to be married by a pastor at Christian Life Center to attend the 6 - 8 weeks of pre-marital counseling. It has been proven that those couples who will take the time to make preparations before marriage will have fewer adjustment problems. This will be scheduled by the presiding pastor upon approval of the Senior Pastor's office of the wedding date. During the counseling process there will be some required reading.
4. Due to the large numbers of weddings at Christian Life Center and to better serve the needs of the couple, a Christian Life Center Ceremony Coordinator is provided to assist with the details of having the wedding ceremony at Christian Life Center. The ceremony coordinator will meet with the couple soon after the wedding has been approved on the church calendar. She will assist the couple by answering questions and helping coordinate with Christian Life Center the details of this "big day."
5. All persons with a previous marriage will need to read the information entitled "Scriptural Guidelines for a Person Considering Remarriage." While we realize divorce is common in our day, we stand opposed to divorce, yet we understand scriptural grounds may prevail in some cases.
If this is true, due to the emotional trauma involved, we cannot consider a wedding application from anyone who has been divorced less than 12 months and will not perform a marriage ceremony for anyone who has been divorced less than 18 months. If a divorcee has not had adequate time to identify and deal with inner hurts and conflicts from a previous marriage, the repressed problems are likely to reappear in the next marriage and subject it to the same fate.
6. Prior to being considered for marriage at Christian Life Center, any individuals co-habiting must agree to separate (live apart).This must happen prior to wedding application being accepted.
VITAL INFORMATION:
1. All inquiries concerning weddings and pre-marital counseling should be directed to the Senior Pastor's office (954-731-LIFE) by the bride-to-be and/or the bridegroom-to-be.
