The History and Continuing Story of Bible Based Marriage
Bible-Based Marriage started in 1998 when we (Graham and Ruth Swaffield) were invited to return to Kenya to speak on marriage.
The request came from Pastor William Omollo after he had been fasting about an evangelistic meeting. He had a picture of us speaking on marriage and to the youth. The first meeting we took lasted just two hours but God moved and lives were changed.
Since that first meeting the ministry has developed and expanded. The programme now has two areas. One is the marriage seminars and the other ‘Marriage Encounter’.
Seminars
The seminars are divided into modules. These can be used depending on time available. They include:
What Marriage Is and Where Did It Start, Marriage is for Life, Attitudes, Behaviour and Responsibilities in Marriage, Things We Have Found to be Foundational In Married Life, Ten Building Blocks for a Good Marriage.
There are also talks for Men, Women, Youth, Conflict and Forgiveness, Self Image and Family Relationships.
All these have developed because of questions and conversations with people. A subject now covered when requested is on family planning as we have found there to be a lot of ignorance and misunderstanding in this area.
The Marriage Encounter
For the Marriage Encounter, married couples will stay in a guest house or similar location for two days. They come to hear teaching and are first taught a way in which to communicate together.
Couples are then given questions to discuss. These questions are formed in a way that will bring about discussion on feelings concerning certain areas of the marriage. These responses are private to the individual couple and are not shared with anyone. Privacy is of the utmost importance in this area.
The Marriage Encounter has only been going since 2005 and was trialled in Uganda. It has now been taken to most of the countries that are visited by us.
The reports coming back about the change that the Encounter has made is beyond expectations and God is seen moving very powerfully in this area. The Encounters have been so successful that some marriages have been saved from divorce.
The Ministry now
There are now four couples taking on the marriage ministry in their own countries. Two couples are in Kenya: Haron and Silome in Mombasa and Henry and Angeline in Kisumu. Two in Malawi: Steven and Winess in Mzuzu, and Sydney and Gertrude in Kande.
In England Chris and Sue Bacon have come to stand with us in the ministry.
In Malawi, which is one of the poorest countries in the world, we were requested to take the teachings to where the people are with as little cost as possible.
The idea came about to use tents for the couples to stay in. A church or other suitable building would be used for the teaching. It would be desirable to have kitchen and eating utensils that could be transported to the site by trailer so that the cost can be minimised.
As of March 2007, twenty tents have been purchased and are now in Malawi.
News and Events
Marriage Seminars in Uganda and Burundi
Graham and Ruth visit Uganda and Burundi for marriage seminars in October.
Tents used for the first time in Malawi
Tents that were purchased with help from friends of Links have been used on two marriage encounter programs
Malawi Clinic Update
The Clinic foundations are now complete and money is now needed for the remainder of the building.