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 Mike McManus (Author), Harriett McManus (Author), Chuck Colson (Foreword) Howard Books From A Press Release Book Description In today's culture, the fact that more than five million couples are living together outside of marriage doesn't come as a shock to many. It should. Studies show the mere act of cohabiting before marriage increases a couples odds of divorce by 50 percent. Consider these recent statistics: 62 percent of couples who married in 2002 were living together. Studies show that cohabiting before marriage increases a couple's odds of divorcing by 50 percent. Yet 86 percent of all couples are married by clergy. "Churches of all denominations wink at cohabitation," write Mike and Harriet McManus in their new book LIVING TOGETHER: MYTHS, RISKS & ANSWERS. Why? The McManuses offer two reasons: "Cohabitation is so endemic in our culture that many pastors have come to regard cohabiting couples as the norm. ... (Also) in fairness to ministers, most simply don't know how to address the sensitive issue of cohabitation." In LIVING TOGETHER, the McManus' show how churches can offer a proven strategy they developed to help couples test their relationship in a more effective way by taking a premarital inventory, meeting with a trained Mentor Couple to discuss the issues it surfaces, and learning how to resolve conflict amicably and thus move into healthy, rewarding, long-term marriages. Designed as a tool for church leaders, a guide for parents of cohabiting adult children and a call to couples in successful, long-term marriages who can make a difference by serving as Mentor Couples, LIVING TOGETHER is full of statistics and stories to illustrate the risks of cohabitation and the McManuses proven answers. LIVING TOGETHER addresses every facet of cohabitation to help pastors, parents, and mentors better reach cohabiting couples, including:
Also included in LIVING TOGETHER is a strategy to help any church to divorce-proof their marriages with thorough marriage preparation and by enriching existing marriages, restoring troubled ones, helping the separated to reconcile and stepfamilies to be successful. The last chapter outlines how the churches of 221 cities have adopted Community Marriage Policies that have reduced metro-wide divorce and cohabitation rates by a third, and raised marriage rates. About the Authors: MIKE AND HARRIET MCMANUS founded a premarital marriage ministry that pioneered the training of Marriage Mentors with a 97% success rate over a decade, are co-founders of Marriage Savers, an organization that has worked with 10,000 pastors and priests to create Community Marriage Policies. They have three grown sons, six grandchildren and live in the Washington, D.C. area. Mike McManus has written Ethics & Religion, a syndicated newspaper column, since 1981. Buy: Living Together: Myths, Risks & Answers Return to the Dr. Laura Reading Corner |
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