An independent study by the Institute for Research and Evaluation reported that on average, city-wide divorce rates fall 17.5% in seven years after a CMP is signed, saving about 100,000 marriages from divorce. In fact, nearly a tenth of cities slashed their divorce rates in half - such as Austin, Kansas City, Salem, OR, Modesto, CA and El Paso, where divorces plunged 79.5%. One welcome result is that El Paso has had the lowest crime rate in the US for the past four years, and Austin is fourth lowest. When families are headed by married parents, their children perform do better academically and are less likely to be delinquent. In addition, the Institute found that CMP cities cut their cohabitation rates by one-third compared to carefully matched cities in each state. And in some cities like Modesto, CA and Evansville, IN, the marriage rate has risen in contrast to a 57% decline of marriages nationally. Marriage matters!

No other organization that I know of has such a track record. A dramatic example of what is possible is Kansas City, KS where Rev. Jeff Meyers helped create a CMP that slashed the city's divorce rate by 70% and by 50% in the suburbs. (You can view three CBN stories about our work and an ABC News story on our website, www.MarriageSavers.org.) How does Marriage Savers help churches achieve these results? We train couples in healthy marriages found in any church to be Marriage Mentor Couples to help other couples at five stages of the marital life cycle:

1. Preparation: Require every couple getting married in city churches to take premarital inventory online in which the man and woman agree or disagree with 150 statements such as:

* When we are having a problem, my partner often refuses to talk about it.
* Sometimes I wish my partner were more careful about spending money.

Mentors meet with premarital couples 6 -7 times to both review the inventory and to teach skills of conflict resolution. Of the 288 couples mentors prepared for marriage in our home church in the 1990s, 58 couples decided NOT to marry - a big 20%. But of the 230 who did marry we know of only 16 divorces - a 7% failure rate over two decades, or a 93% success rate - virtual marriage insurance!

2. Enrichment: All marriages run down over time and need a booster shot. 10 Great Dates offers a fun, easy and inexpensive way to do so. Churches invite married couples to come to church on 10 Friday nights to watch a brief DVD on a topic such as "Resolving Honest Conflict," or "Becoming an Encourager." Couples then go on a date to discuss that subject, prompted by questions in a workbook. Cost: only $14 for one workbook per couple and $50 for the DVD kit and a leaders' guide. Other solid enrichment DVD packages: The Art of Marriage, Fireproof, Love & Respect.

3. Restore troubled marriages by training couples whose own marriages once nearly failed to mentor those in current crisis, saving 4 of 5 of them. Marriage Savers trains couples to review 17 "Action Statements" that are similar to the 12 steps of AA, such as:

* I made a decision and commitment to follow Jesus as my Savior & Lord.
* Once obedient to God, we were able to begin to love by his standards, not ours.
* I realized the problem was with myself.
* I became aware I needed to change, became willing to change, learned what and how to change, and began to change with God's help.
* I learned to put God and mate ahead of myself.

4. Reconciliation of separated couples can be achieved with a 12-week Marriage 911workbook course taken by the spouse who wants to save a marriage when a partner wants a divorce. The course is taken with a friend of the same gender, who acts as an accountability partner, using a Support Partner Handbook to know what questions to ask each week. It is designed to help the committed spouse grow so much that the errant spouse is attracted back. It saves more than half of the marriages. Cost: only $28 plus shipping.

5. Stepfamilies typically divorce at a 70% rate. However, Marriage Savers shows how to create a Stepfamily Support Group that saves 80% of these marriages - the mirror opposite. Couples learn from each other how to make these marriages work. A kit to create a group includes a manual, a paperback book by Rev. Dick Dunn, the author, and a CD for $35 plus shipping.

Community Marriage Policies Succeed

In the 29 years since Modesto, CA clergy signed America's first Community Marriage Policy, its divorce rate has remained half of what it used to be for a decade. Its marriages doubled from 1,300 a year to 2,600 (partly due to population growth). Results: school dropouts fell 19% and teen births have fallen by 30%. Marriage matters!

Why not encourage churches in your area to create a Community Marriage Covenant? I will help you get press and TV coverage, which could inspire other parts of your state to follow your example. The heart of a successful Covenant is equipping Mentor Couples to help other couples prepare for, enrich and restore marriages. Here are three key steps to create a Community Marriage Policy:

1. CMP presentation: Consider sending this letter to the pastors of local churches, inviting them to a presentation Harriet and I would conduct at no cost, in a Marriage Savers Webinar. It is a 45-minute PowerPoint presentation that connects my computer to one in your church via GoToMeeting so I can explain in detail what a Community Marriage Covenant is, and how it can help churches strengthen and save marriages. We can make additional presentations, if desired. Consider calling your County Clerk to ask for the number of marriages in 2014, and your Circuit Court to get the number of divorces, and insert them in paragraph one.

2. CMP signing: If the pastors agree, we could schedule a signing of your Covenant and work with you toward making it a sell-attended signing, leaving ample time to recruit potential Mentor Couples. It could be scheduled this spring or summer. Recruiting churches and Mentor Couples takes more time than expected. Harriet and I will come to your signing ceremony, congratulate clergy for their initiative and give a brief verbal overview of how this action is likely to save hundreds of marriages. Each pastor will have a brief opportunity to explain why he is signing it.

3. CMP training: Marriage Savers will train clergy and Mentor Couples from each church that Friday evening from 6:30 to 10 pm and on Saturday from 8:30 am to 5 pm. Each church can bring as many Mentor Couples as desired. One couple from each church will be a Supervising Mentor Couple to conduct future trainings.

Let's use Lent to start a process of creating lifelong, fulfilling marriages in your community. (Census reports that only 48% of American adults are married, down from three-fourths.)

Together, we can turn these dismal statistics around and restore marriage - God's first institution.

Blessings,
Mike McManus