The Healthy Christian Marriage

The Healthy Christian Marriage is an eight-week workbook for couples who want a marriage that is both genuinely Christian and genuinely healthy. Written by Rev. David Pendergrass, Ph.D., and drawn from a marriage workshop he taught for many years, it insists that faith and emotional health are not the same thing, and that a thriving marriage requires both. Across eight weeks, couples move from foundation to skill. The early weeks establish what God designed marriage to be: a sacred covenant grounded in agape love rather than contract, eros, or the Halo Effect. Later weeks build the competencies a healthy marriage actually requires, including personal responsibility and self-awareness, honest and life-giving communication, fighting well and forgiving completely, truly knowing your unique spouse, sexual intimacy, and living it all out under the pressures of money, in-laws, parenting, and crisis. Each week follows a clear rhythm: five days of individual teaching with REFLECT, DISCUSS, and PRACTICE prompts, followed by a weekend of shared practice and prayer. The tone is pastoral and honest. It will challenge you, and that discomfort is often the first sign of real growth. A closing appendix, "When It May Be More Than Marriage Trouble," helps couples recognize deeper patterns such as abuse and personality disorders, and points to places to turn for help. Whether your marriage is struggling or simply good enough, this workbook offers a path toward something better: a marriage you do not merely survive, but one that gives you life.