ThomRainer.com

Thom Rainer is the Founder and CEO of Church Answers

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Resources
  • Books
  • Podcasts
    • Rainer on Leadership
    • Revitalize & Replant
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • RSS

July 8, 2016 5 Comments

Nine Key Issues for Pastors Regarding Weddings – Rainer on Leadership #240

Podcast Episode #240

SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio • Google Play


Discussions on pastors and weddings as well as what to watch for, what to have prepared, and what to avoid.

Some highlights from today’s episode include:

  • If you’re in the South and getting married on a Fall Saturday, prepare for possible low attendance.
  • You really don’t know your spouse until you’re married and living with one another every day.
  • Premarital counseling is a great way to use older couples as mentors in your church.
  • From my perspective, me doing a wedding is an endorsement of the marriage.
  • Weddings are theological events.
  • You need to know a couple’s expectations of you as their wedding officiant.
  • I don’t recommend pastors setting a specific wedding fee.
  • I don’t think couple realize how many hours go into a wedding from the minister’s point of view.

The nine key issues regarding wedding that we cover are:

  1. Your personal beliefs.
  2. Make counseling a requirement.
  3. Get to know the couple.
  4. Share Christ with them.
  5. Understand the expectations for attendance.
  6. The issues of the financial charge.
  7. Make the ceremony personal.
  8. Work with the wedding coordinator.
  9. Know your limitations.

Episode Sponsors

Vanderbloemen Search GroupVanderbloemen Search Group is the premier pastor search firm dedicated to helping churches and ministries build great teams. They’ve helped hundreds of churches just like yours find their church staff and are uniquely geared to help you discern who God is calling to lead your church.

Find out more about Vanderbloemen Search Group by visiting WeStaffTheChurch.com.


mbts_banner1_rainerMidwestern Seminary, located in the heart of the Midwest, is one of the fastest growing seminaries in North America and offers a fantastic array of academic programs, including multiple online and residential options at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. Midwestern’s new 81-hour Mdiv program, online program, and doctoral program have all been recognized as some of the most innovative and affordable in the country. There has never been a better time to begin your seminary education. Midwestern Seminary trains leaders ‘For The Church.’

Visit them online at MBTS.edu/Rainer and start your ministry training today.


Feedback

If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of I Will.

Resources

  • Search by William Vanderbloemen
  • A Letter I Gave to Couples Who Wanted Me to Perform Their Wedding Ceremony
  • Fifteen Crazy Things That Happened at Weddings

Related

Comments

  1. Isaac says

    July 9, 2016 at 10:49 am

    This episode was very timely for me. I agreed to perform a wedding ceremony for a couple on fairly short notice, but after meeting with them I have some serious concerns. Do you have any advice for how or when to step back and tell a couple that you can no longer, in good conscience, perform their marriage? Is this ever an option?

    Reply
    • Scott Ratzloff says

      July 10, 2016 at 1:04 pm

      Isaac,

      I have performed a number of weddings and have always insisted on extensive pre-marital counselling. If possible, encourage the prosepctive couple to engage in a quality servey. I have used Prepare Enrich and have found it to be very useful during this process. If you have determined that there are some issues that need to be addressed, can they be resolved in a relatively short time? If not, and there are deeper spiritual concerns that cause you to hesitate, express these the couple. You may need to withdraw from consideration if you feel that the issues involved are too extensive. Hope this helps.

      Reply
      • Isaac says

        July 12, 2016 at 10:50 am

        Thanks, Scott! I’ll check out the Prepare Enrich material. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t agree to a wedding on such short notice. I made an exception, because I know the family well. But I am regretting that decision.

        Reply
  2. John A Smith says

    July 9, 2016 at 5:38 pm

    Thom,
    I begin by stating that I am a long time follower of your work and have no intention of changing my opinion of you because of something I read today in your post.
    I began reading your insight concerning the racial divide in our country, but did not get far without reading something erroneously stated. You listed a number of incidents that you felt had contributed to our present problem. among the places you mentioned was Ferguson, Missouri. Since that incident is postulated by many as the inception of “black lives matter,” and the mayhem that has grown from it, I do not believe we should add to the confusion by somehow implying that it was racial in any way. The full weight of the Obama administration was brought to bear against an innocent policeman, only to reach the conclusion that Michael Brown was responsible for his own demise. Instead of being portayed properly, as a thug and young criminal, he has been made the “Hands up” hero of a misguided and politically movitated generation of young people.
    Please reconsider that list and correct its validity.

    John A Smith

    Reply
  3. Leeway E Dahn says

    July 11, 2016 at 9:53 am

    Hi! Thom, thanks for this post. Now a day our members are no more concern about the spiritual aspects of the prospective spouse and many of them have no interested in counseling as required by the church. What may your advice in this instance? I need your help as a marriage counselor at my church.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Interested in becoming a sponsor at ThomRainer.com? Click Here.


Listen to the Latest Episode of Rainer on Leadership

Categories

Archives

@ThomRainer

My Tweets

Copyright © 2021 · Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in