In a world where many newlywed couples begin their marriage journey with few if any examples of lasting marriages in their immediate families and find themselves floundering in their attempts to build a healthier union, older married couples who have gone the distance can provide a much-needed lifeline of support and encouragement. One faith-based program that is working to connect younger couples with wise married mentors is Witness to Love. The program was founded by Ryan and Mary Rose Verret, the parents of five beautiful children, who spent several years interviewing hundreds of couples in their church community, including divorced couples, to find out what was missing from faith-based marriage prep programs. Through this process, they realized that the marriage preparation process needed to be revamped to become more “relational” and include the entire church community and especially mentorship from other married couples the young couples already admire. Recently, I interviewed Ryan and Mary Rose about their important work to bring younger and more seasoned married couples together to strengthen families, churches, and entire communities.

Alysse Elhage: I’m curious to learn more about both of your family backgrounds and whether what you saw in your own parents’ marriages growing up had a big influence in inspiring you to found Witness to Love?   …

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