Investigating Christian Counselors' Emphasis on Marriage Vows as a Sacred Covenant in Premarital Counseling

Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety” (King James Bible, 2017; Proverbs 11:14). This proverb suggests that counsel can provide a level of security. Premarital counsel is a type of provisional assistance and guidance sought by couples seeking to shelter and strengthen their union. Within the church pastors and elders often provide Christian counseling to congregants for various reasons, including premarital counseling. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to discover pastors and elders that operate as Christian counselors’ emphasis on marriage vows as a sacred covenant within premarital counseling. The theory guiding this study is Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, which describes environmental learning. The construct is used as a framework to explore Christian counselors’ emphasis on marriage vows as covenant in Christian premarital counseling. Without comprehension of marriage vows as a sacred covenant, there cannot be application of them. The review of current literature related to Christian premarital counseling revealed a research gap and presented the need for this study. This phenomenological qualitative study of Christian counselors’ instruction determined the prevalence of marriage vows as a sacred covenant direction in Christian premarital counseling. This investigation identified underlying probabilities and additional influences vital to analyzing the phenomenon.