Save Your Marriage Before it Starts

Congratulations on your engagement, and welcome to Save Your Marriage Before It Starts (SYMBIS), a premarital mentoring ministry of Southview.  Great marriages don’t just happen.  An important part of having a great marriage is preparation. SYMBIS is designed to help prepare engaged couples for strong, lasting marriages based on biblical principles.

SYMBIS pairs an engaged couple with a trained volunteer mentor couple for 8 mentoring sessions over 2 or 3 months with a book, workbook and assessment. This structured curriculum provides excellent preparation in areas key to a successful marriage: communication, conflict resolution, finances, intimacy, and family.

Prerequisites for participation in Save Your Marriage Before It Starts (SYMBIS)

  1. You are currently engaged, with a wedding date more than six months from the date of registration.
  2. One or both of you are regular attendees of Southview Alliance Church.

It is critical to begin the premarital process at least 6 months before your wedding date.  This ensures that if areas are discovered during the mentoring sessions that you or your fiancé need further work on, there will be plenty of time to do so apart from the last-minute rush of wedding preparations.

If you do not meet these prerequisites, we recommend premarital counseling with one of the professional Christian counselors in our referral network.  Contact us for a referral. Or you can check out First Alliance Church Premarriage for their dates and times.

Next Steps

If you meet the prerequisites, the next steps are as follows:

  1. The cost of SYMBIS is $150 per couple, which includes all materials and assessment tools.
  2. Click here to fill out our Online Premarriage Form. (Note: Download the form to fill out then submit using the button on the form. This form works best in non iOS formats – if you are using an apple product you may have to print, fill out and email it to us. )
  3. You will receive a confirmation email from the Premarital Ministry staff with additional details and instructions. You will also be matched with a mentor couple.
  4.  

If you have additional questions about Save Your Marriage Before It Starts, please contact us.

If you have questions about booking our facility please contact us.

Save Your Marriage Before It Starts (SYMBIS) Volunteer

The mission of the SYMBIS ministry is to lead people to passionately follow Jesus by building strong marriages based on biblical principles.  Because the role of the SYMBIS mentors is full of opportunities for influence in the couples’ lives, we are intentional about selecting spiritually mature, emotionally and relational healthy couples.  Please contact us for more information about serving.

Married Life Events

Married Life Events help married couples experience what we call the Core 4 Habits of a Great Marriage.

God’s way for marriage might not be easy to live out, but it is certainly easy to understand. God gives us only a few verses on how husbands and wives should love each other. We believe He did that on purpose. From the precious few Scripture verses on marriage come the…

Core 4 Habits of a Great Marriage

 

Having fun as a couple is not just something extra, it’s essential. In fact, we believe the best way to protect your marriage is to enjoy it.

       

 Of the few verses God gives to husbands and wives, the directive to respect and love is commanded more than any other. And when we understand the interplay between respect and love, the truth really can set us free.

 

When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment, His answer was to love God with all you are, then to love others with all you are. Loving God in your individual life greatly impacts your married life.

 

We made a big promise when we said, “I do”. Our spouses trusted that we would do what we promised to do – to love each other and to stay together no matter what. Knowing that the commitment is still there is vital to every marriage.

The Calgary Marriage Network

No matter where you live in Calgary, we want to make it easy for you to find the marriage help you need. Co-founded by First Alliance Church, The Calgary Marriage Network (YYCMN) is a partnership between eight churches in the city, working collaboratively to encourage and strengthen marriages within local churches and in the broader community through classes, workshops, cross-training, and special events through FunandFaith.

Participating Churches:

  • First Alliance Church
  • Centre Street Church
  • Foothills Alliance Church
  • Southview Alliance Church
  • Bethany Chapel
  • Grace Baptist Church
  • Royal Oak Victory Church
  • Westview Baptist Church

Follow YYCMN on Facebook for the latest news and events. Or check out Fun+Faith Events near you!

Marriage Mentors

Just think about how vibrant our church could be if all the “OK” marriages became “GOOD,” and all the “GOOD” marriages became “GREAT?” Our hope is that more and more couples would find value in getting intentional about enriching their marriages. Too often, couples wait until they find themselves in trouble, some even at the brink of divorce before asking for help.

Almost every married couple experiences conflicts in their marriage they are unable to resolve. The solutions come when spouses begin refocusing their perspectives, but most will not or cannot do it on their own. They need another couple to come alongside them in a mentoring relationship. Our enrichment process points them back to Biblical principles and guides them to once again find value in the characteristics of their spouse.

Overview

Marriage Mentoring ministry pairs a trained volunteer mentor couple with another married couple for 13 mentoring sessions over a 6 month to one year period.  A structured curriculum provides excellent support in areas key to a successful marriage – commitment, identity, forgiveness, communication, conflict resolution, finances, and intimacy.

We also use an online tool called the Uniquely United Assessment.  It is a key component as you get started in the mentoring process.  This assessment will help you understand how God has uniquely created you, begin to value each other’s differences as strengths, identify areas of adaptation and understand why they are occurring, and learn how to communicate with each other more effectively.

Details

  • Cost is $150/couple – which includes all materials and assessment tools.
  • Please contact us if you are interested in entering into a marriage mentoring relationship, or if you are interested in becoming Marriage Mentors.

Our Partners

  • Marriage Mentors