PACO 603 Premarital and Marital Counseling

This course introduces students to key factors that contribute to successful marital relationships. It covers biblical principles for marriage, as well as practical tools and strategies to enhance communication techniques, conflict resolution, and emotional health, to help couples build strong, lasting relationships.

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

Christian and secular experts agree that marriages are failing at a 50% or higher rate in the United States of America. This course provides the student with the requisite skills and knowledge to assist couples through crises and to develop healthy, vibrant marriages.

Textbook readings and lecture presentations

No details available.

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student is required to create a thread in response to the provided prompt for each forum. Each thread must be at least 300 words and must demonstrate course-related knowledge. In addition to the thread, the student is required to reply to at least 1 other classmates’ threads. Each reply must be at least 250 words. The thread and reply should use at least one scholarly source. (CLO: A, B, C)

One of the needs in churches today is to provide Biblical and professional pre-engagement counseling for couples who are dating but are not engaged. Dating couples might express a desire to process issues in their relationship without the pressure that engagement brings. As a future Pastoral Counselor, your goal is to encourage couples to find God’s perfect plan for them as a couple or as individuals (Phil 1:9-11, Eph 1:8b-10). Thus, the Pre-Engagement Counseling Plan consists of a set of assignments which will help you expand your knowledge about pre-engagement pastoral counseling, understand key issues affecting dating couples, and develop a plan for counseling dating couples that targets specific issues.

(CLO: A, B, C)

With a view toward compiling the Resource Guide, you will continue building content by identifying resources for counseling a variety of couples. To that end, you will be exploring resources geared toward informing counseling practices for pre-marital and marital counseling. You will be doing some exploratory work by locating and reviewing potential resources that will contribute to the development of the Repository.

(CLO: C)