Christian pre-Engagement or Pre-marital Counseling

Creating a Christ-Centered Foundation for a ’Til Death Do Us Part Marriage

Premarital Counseling is where Agape Pastoral Services began back in 2008. Since then, we’ve had the joy and privilege of working with hundreds of engaged and pre-engaged couples from all walks of life.

Whether you’re in your late teens or getting married later in life, preparing for your first marriage or bringing two families together, we believe you’re never too young, or too old, to intentionally prepare for marriage and build your relationship on a solid biblical foundation.

Today, we’ve taken everything we’ve learned through more than 25 years of working with couples and developed it into our comprehensive eight-session Premarital Counseling Course:

Discover God’s Design for Marriage

Our course combines biblical truth, practical relationship tools, guided conversations, professional-quality resources, and decades of real-world marriage counseling experience to help couples prepare not simply for a wedding, but for a lifetime together.

And because every couple has different needs, schedules, and budgets, the course is available through three tiers of service, allowing you to choose the level of personal guidance and support that is right for you.

Want to see your options now? Click here to explore our three tiers of service.

Preparing for More Than the Wedding Day

Our team has worked with couples from virtually every walk of life, including professional athletes, business leaders, teachers, first responders, students, ministry leaders, and everything in between.

Every couple’s story is different, but the goal is the same:

Start strong. Build wisely. Finish well.

We believe great marriages don’t just happen. They are intentionally built.

Think about it. Virtually every other significant endeavor in life, from education and career to parenting and finances, involves preparation and training. Yet couples sometimes spend months preparing for their wedding day while giving comparatively little attention to preparing for the marriage that follows.

We want to help change that.

Our goal is to equip you with the biblical foundation, practical tools, meaningful conversations, and relationship skills that can serve you not only during your first year of marriage, but for decades to come.

A Complete Eight-Session Premarital Counseling Course

Discover God’s Design for Marriage is an eight-session course created by Agape Pastoral Services founder Todd LaVine and his wife, Jodi.

The curriculum draws from a deep study of God’s Word, more than 25 years of experience working with hundreds of individuals and couples, and four decades of Todd and Jodi’s own marriage.

The course walks couples through eight essential areas:

1. Explore & Learn
2. Why Marriage
3. How Marriage is Built
4. Decision-Making
5. Communication & Conflict
6. Roles & Responsibilities
7. Money & Stewardship
8. Sexual Intimacy

Throughout the course, you’ll work through video teaching, two comprehensive course workbooks, practical exercises and downloadable tools designed to help you talk about the things that matter most before saying, “I do.”

Three Tiers. One Strong Foundation.

We recognize that not every couple needs the same level of support. That’s why Discover God’s Design for Marriage is available in three tiers.

Tier 1 — Self-Guided

Perfect for couples who want the complete course with the same exact teaching and resources while working through the material together at their own pace.

Tier 2 — Guided Support

For couples who want the complete course along with a little personal guidance and coaching as they work through the material.

Tier 3 — Exclusive Coaching

Our most personalized experience for couples who want one-on-one support throughout their entire premarital journey.

No matter which tier you choose, the goal remains the same:

To help you build a Christ-centered foundation for a healthy, lifelong, ’til death do us part marriage.

Click here to compare all three tiers and find the option that's right for you.

Understanding Your Relationship

An important part of our premarital process is helping you better understand the relationship you are bringing into marriage.

Our program also incorporates a comprehensive compatibility assessment designed to provide valuable insight into important areas of your relationship, including communication, conflict resolution, family dynamics, finances, spiritual beliefs, sexual expectations, personality differences, and roles and responsibilities.

The purpose isn’t to give your relationship a passing or failing grade. It is to help identify strengths you can build upon and potential blind spots that deserve intentional conversation before marriage.

Those insights become another valuable tool for helping you understand one another more deeply and prepare wisely for your future together.

What Makes Our Approach Different?

Our approach brings together:

• Biblical truth and God’s design for marriage
• More than 25 years of experience working with individuals and couples
• Decades of personal marriage experience
• Practical tools couples can continue using long after the course ends
• Structured conversations about the issues that commonly strengthen or derail marriages
• Flexible levels of personal support through three different tiers

In short, we’ve seen what can slowly pull marriages apart, and we’ve also seen what helps couples remain connected, healthy, resilient, and centered on Christ.

We bring that experience into this course not to overwhelm you, but to equip you.

Build Your Marriage With Intention

Proverbs 24:3–4 says:

“A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables.” — Proverbs 24:3–4 NLT

That passage captures our heart for Premarital Counseling here at Agape Pastoral Services.

Bottom line, we want to help you build the marriage, not simply prepare for the wedding.

If you’re looking to:

• Start your marriage with greater clarity and confidence
• Deepen your emotional and spiritual connection
• Identify potential blind spots before they become breakdowns
• Grow in your understanding of God’s design for marriage
• Develop healthier communication and conflict-resolution skills
• Talk openly about finances, expectations, roles, intimacy, and your future
• Build practical relationship skills you can use throughout your marriage
• Establish Christ as the foundation of your life together

Then Discover God’s Design for Marriage was created for you.

Your Marriage Is Worth Preparing For!

Whether you’re engaged, seriously dating, preparing for remarriage, or simply beginning conversations about your future together, we would consider it a privilege to help you prepare for one of the most important and hardest commitments you will ever make.

You can begin by exploring our three tiers of service and choosing the level of support that best fits your relationship.

Or, if you have questions and would like to talk with us first, schedule a complimentary 30-minute Discovery Call to learn more about the course, discuss your needs, and determine which option may be the best fit for you.

- Let’s build something beautiful together, with Christ at the center.

- Discover God’s Design for Marriage

- Eight Sessions. Three Tiers. One Purpose.

- Building the next generation of Christ-centered, ’til death do us part marriages.

Explore the Course & Compare All Three Tiers in more detail here

Officiating Wedding Ceremony: Some couples may desire that I perform the wedding ceremony which is also an option. I am an Ordained, Independent Minister of the Gospel by the National Association of Christian Ministers. If you live outside of the state of Minnesota and wish to have me perform your ceremony, because each states registration process is so different, we would need to look at each ceremony on a case by case basis.  There would be an additional cost with the time and travel, but regardless, it is something I would be privileged to do. If this is of interest to you, please let me know as far in advance as possible, so we can start talking about the details and get dates on the calendar. Learn more