Run a course
Run The Marriage Course
A global crisis in the breakdown of family and married life presents a huge need – and a huge opportunity. In running The Marriage Course for couples in your area, you can create a space that offers couples practical tools to help them build a strong marriage.
3 simple steps
How to run The Marriage Course
Plan it
Speak to your church or organisation about where and when your course could be run, then simply sign up online using Course Builderto run The Pre-Marriage Course in person or remotely.
Prepare for it
Enjoy the user-friendly training resources that will be provided to you in Course Builder and familiarise yourself with The Marriage Course videos and materials to help you feel completely confident running the course!
Invite guests
Invite couples to attend and prepare each session as a special “date night”. This doesn’t have to cost the world... it just needs a little thought. Think about using candles and romantic lighting!
What is Course Builder?
In order to run a course, you will simply create an account on Course Builder. You will then have access to all materials, training and resources related to running your course, including the option to download the latest series.
Find out more
To experience the impact of The Marriage Course, you can view Session 1 below. To access all episodes, please register here.
Throughout our decades of working with couples worldwide, we have repeatedly seen the lasting impact of taking the time to invest in your marriage and family. Our passion is to assist couples in working on their relationship and deepening their connection, because strong marriages enable families and communities to thrive.
Pippa and I cannot recommend the Marriage Course highly enough. Whether you are a couple considering marriage or have been married for many years, this course is for you. Nicky and Sila Lee, who founded the course, are wonderful role models whose marriage we have admired for many decades of friendship. The course provides a wonderful foundation for any couple wishing to build a strong and lasting relationship.
Who’s it for?
Running The Marriage Course is perfect for you if:
- You believe in the importance and beauty of marriage
- You have one free evening a week for five weeks
- You would like to invest in the future of couples and families in your area.
- You are part of a church or organisation that will host the course
- You would like to help engaged couples build stronger relationships
- You are able to create a romantic, date-like setting for each session
Frequently asked questions
Yes, in some countries, The Marriage Course and The Pre-Marriage Course have been translated into other languages. Please click HERE And use the "Find a course" section to see which courses are available in your country.
On Course Builder you will find a document with links to every episode. We recommend emailing the episode link with the password to the couple.
Running sections of the course means guests don’t get the full experience or the full benefit. The course is written in a way that the different sections build upon each other and don’t work as effectively when done independently. We would recommend you run the courses in full rather than just use sections.
In most cases, The Marriage Course and The Pre-Marriage Course are free to attend, but some churches or organisations do charge a nominal fee to cover the meal and other running costs. As a guest, you may need to purchase your own Guest Journals.
There are seven weekly sessions, and each session lasts approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes, including conversations between you as a couple.
If you're interested in obtaining these resources, please contact your respective office HERE
Both The Marriage Course and The Pre-Marriage Course have a similar structure, with the environment of a date night and an emphasis on private discussions for each couple. The key difference is that The Pre-Marriage Course is for engaged couples and those considering marriage, whereas we recommend The Marriage Course for couples who have been married for at least two years. The Pre-Marriage Course can also include a Couple Survey which each guest completes in advance of the course. Following the course they look at the results of their survey over a meal with a designated married "Support Couple".
Yes, it is very easy! All of the talks are available online, along with a Leaders’ Guide which has instructions for when to pause for exercises and private conversations for each couple. Promotional materials and other resources are also available once you register your course on Course Builder. You can get to Course Builder by going to top menu, choosing a course and clicking on Find out about running.
The Marriage Course and The Pre-Marriage Course each have their own version of the Guest Journal. Each guest on a course requires their own Guest Journal (that’s two per couple) and can be found through the country links on
The Guest Journal is a small handbook that corresponds with the topics of each session, guiding couples’ conversations, prompting discussions, and allowing plenty of space for guests to make their own notes. The Guest Journal is created as an additional tool used to help the guest couples reflect on their relationship and the meaning of marriage, as well as to facilitate conversations between them. The Guest Journal is for each guest to keep once the course has finished.
Please get in touch with your local Alpha office who will be happy to help you, HERE
Developed in 1996, The Marriage Course has been run in over 117 countries for over 1.5 million couples. It is a not-for-profit offering from Alpha International, and is run globally by many organisations.
Más información
Alpha International is a charity registered in England & Wales (no. 1086179) and in Scotland (no. SC042906) and a private company limited by guarantee and registered in England & Wales (no. 4157379). The registered office is at HTB Brompton Road SW7 1JA.
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