Toward A Growing Marriage: Building the Love Relationship of your Dreams

by Gary Chapman

Marital Bliss?'My wife is a nag!' 'My husband thinks I'm his slave!'We just don't love each other anymore.'Common phrases in an all too common world of marital failure. We hear them everyday from our co-workers, our friends, and even ourselves. The separation and divorce rate among Christian couples continues to rise while thousands of other Christian couples continue to live together in something far less than the 'abundant life' that Jesus promised. Is your marriage turning out differently than you expected? Are all of today's alarming statistics making you wary of ever getting married? Well you are not alone. In Toward a Growing Marriage, Dr. Chapman offers the hope you've been looking for. The author of the best-selling book The Five Love Languages, will help you get your marriage off to a good start or back on the right track with advice that is both biblical and practical. Part of the problem, according to Dr. Chapman, is that too many times our churches have focused on the negative biblical directives when teaching about marriage. We need to know more than to not marry a non-believer and to save sex for marriage. We need to know how to succeed. Toward a Growing Marriage is divided into two sections in order to help two different audiences succeed: those who are in the process of finding a spouse who will be a 'fitting' or 'suitable' marriage partner those who have already said 'I do' and are trying to fulfill that commitmentMarital happiness is not automatic, but the practical application of Dr. Chapman's helpful information will put couples well on their way to successful and fulfilling marriages.

Genres: Marriage, Nonfiction, Relationships, Family, Self Help, Christian

225 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Gary Demonte Chapman is an American author and radio talk show host. Chapman is most noted for his The Five Love Languages series regarding human relationships.

Reviews

[Stuart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read "His needs, her needs"or "for men only" "for women only" instead.

[K Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for singles adults & teenagers. Why? First chapter deals with "the purpose and pitfalls of dating"
Second chapter "how to find a mate "
Third chapter " the goal of marriage "
I wish I had this book when I was a teenager... this book will place " reality " of marriage on singles & teens with romantic views on marriage !
Chapter six " communication in marriage " was very informative & educational for me
Each chapter has questions for ( both) For the Married & For the Unmarried.

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the basic topics were good and gave my husband and me some talking points, the studies themselves were insultingly simplistic. I hope adults are the only ones doing this study since it's on marriage, but I had more thoughtful studies in high school. Most questions are some version of "restate this Bible verse in your own words," which encourages an irresponsible reading of Scripture and is discourteous to anyone with critical thinking skills. I could understand the simplicity if it was built for those new to the Christian faith, but it did not suppose any sort of growth over the chapters. Most of my conversations with my husband were on how to take the topics deeper since the chapters were so contumeliously basic. Do not recommend.

[Hiram Crowder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toward A Growing Marriage offers some practical help for couples navigating married life. My eyes opened up to new insights that Dr. Chapman provides, all of which are Biblical and he has great seminars that offer the same.

[Clancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was a good study, but the best part was being in community with five other couples working through the chapters. Thankful for faithful friends in life working towards building stronger marriages.

[Derbie Onyeche · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

[Heidi Morrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource for a Godly, Christ-centered Marriage.

[Leigh Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many libraries won't buy devotionals, workbooks, etc. for one simple reason: their circ policies can't or won't accommodate the time a person would need to complete the book. On top of that, buying books you're supposed to write in is just entrapment. However, where there's demand for these kinds of materials, what can you do?

You'll have to work that out on your own time, but if you ultimately decide to buy stuff like this, and there's demand, picking this up would be fine. Chapman, a/k/a the "5 Love Languages" guy, has produced a Bible study for couples to use together, as well as with small groups within their church. At 12 weeks, the length of this study fits into most circ/renewal policies, and all you really have to worry about is the holds (monitor that and buy duplicate copies if necessary). The chapters are divided up into the sorts of things couples need to discuss --money, sex, listening, dealing with anger, communication, etc.--and consist of Bible readings, fill in the blank exercises, and activities the reader is meant to do with a partner.

One content issue with this text is the reading level, which is a bit simplistic; some adults may be insulted by the fill-in-the-blanks, which are written in such a way that you'd have to be completely mentally incapable not to get the right answer. Another problem is that so many topics are covered that the reader only gets surface advice on each one, much of it common sense. This is softened somewhat by the resource guide in the back, but if the only thing you get out of a book is "go look at these other books," that's a problem...especially if they include Chapman's other books, adding an element of sales technique to a Bible study, which just seems wrong/weird.

Then again, the target audience may not care about these details: this book promises to do a thing and then does that thing, so there you go (each reader their book). Purchase where there is demand, name recognition, or both.