The minister's role in marriage preparation

Trends in Premarital Counseling*

“…Mailed questionnaires have been used to try to determine the status of premarital counseling programs sponsored by churches (Mace, 1952;Wiser, 1959;Fairchild, 1959;Hill, 1968;Wright, 1976) or physicians (Herndon & Nash, 1962). Among church surveys, it is possible to obtain a glimpse of how pastoral premarital counseling may have changed over the past 25 years.…”

“…Another intriguing and probably significant finding is that the modal number of premarital counseling sessions has increased over the years. Mace (1952) andWiser (1959) found that most clergy conducted one session of premarital counseling, while perhaps 10 to 20 percent of their peers had as many as two sessions with each couple. Approximately ten years later, Hill found that the modal number of sessions had doubled, with approximately ten percent of the responding clergy reporting four sessions as typical.…”

The preparation of pastors in premarital counseling

“…Reflecting the field of psychology of his time, Wiser claimed that if a couple brought in an actual problem, the counseling would have to be done on an individual basis. Mace (1952) carried out the earliest known research on clergy and premarital counseling. He conducted his research at Drew University.…”

“…All the books and programs on premarital counseling written from a Christian perspective begin by stressing the biblical and theological dimensions of marriage (Baughen & Baughen, 1994;Boehi et al, 1997;Burkart, 1950;Clinebell, 1977;Coleman, 1991;Dicks, 1963;Dobson, 1993;Esau, 1990;Eyrich, 1987;Floyd, 1993;Giblin, 1994;Hamilton, 1991;Hardin & Sloan, 1992;Haug, 1998;Mace, 1951Mace, , 1952Mace, , 1984Mace, , 1985Mace & Mace 1976;Mack, 1986;Mitman, 1980;Morris, 1960;Oates, 1958;Parrot III & Parrot, 1995, 1997Prokopchak & Prokopchak, 1994;Rutledge, 1966Rutledge, , 1968aRutledge, , 1968bShadle, 1991;Sproul, 1986;Stanley, 1997;Stanley et aL, 1998b;Taylor, 1999;vom Eigen, 1983;Warren, 1992;Worthington, 1990;Wright, 1976Wright, , 19811985a, 1985bWright & Roberts,...…”

“…The review of literature for this study was limited largely, but not exclusively, to an overlooked dimension of premarital co unseling-the actual training needs of clergy in premarital counseling. The research studies on pastoral training in premarital counseling and related literature were reviewed historically, from the most current to the least current, dating back to the earliest one conducted by Mace (1951Mace ( , 1952.…”