Synopses & Reviews
IS LIVING TOGETHER THE ANSWER?
Since the late 1960s, the number of couples living together before marriage has increased significantly, as this phenomenon was thought to be the answer to obtaining a successful marriage. The theory that couples could "practice" seemed a perfect solution to an increasingly higher divorce rate. "After all," many argued, "if we live together first, we will really know if we're compatible."
Mike and Harriet McManus, co-founders of the Marriage Savers® organization, argue in this important book that theory and reality are often not the same. They take a fundamental position that one can not practice permanence, and unless a marriage is established as permanent, a couple will not approach it the same way. This significant finding has come from the McManuses' fifteen years of studying marriage and divorce and their desire to help couples build strong marriages that last a lifetime.
In the pages of this book, you will discover that the divorce rate is actually higher among couples who live together before marriage, as well as important principles that really do give couples the necessary tools for a successful marriage.
Consider this book an investment in yours or someone else's marriage. Whether you are a counselor seeking to help others in their marriage, a parent helping a child as he or she is contemplating living with someone, a pastor who needs a reliable tool to help couples in his ministry, or a person considering living with someone yourself, this book is for you!
Review
"Mike and Harriet McManus are playing a key part in the restoration of marriage in America. They have teamed up with more than 10,000 clergy in over 200 cities to establish Community Marriage Policies. An independent study reports that in their first 122 communities, divorce rates fell 17.5 percent in seven years, with some plunging 50 percent, cohabitation rates dropped by a third, and marriage rates are rising as a result of the Community Marriage Policies. Mike and Harriet are not only passionate, they are effective. I highly recommend you join with them in the mission to restore marriage in America." -- Tony Perkins, president, Family Research Council
Review
"For too long, church leaders have ignored cohabitation. This book is a wake-up call on the extent of the problem -- with encouraging, proven answers. It is must-reading for every pastor and lay leader." -- Reverend Richard Cizik, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals
Review
"Mike and Harriet McManus are doing their level best to alert Americans that cohabitation increases rather than decreases the likelihood of divorce. The authors, who have devoted their lives to the cause of marriage, have written a well-researched and practical book. It deserves close attention by young people, their parents, and by the Church. Living Together provides youth with the insights and tools needed to avoid what could be one of the costliest mistakes of their lives and shows them the path to a happy and lasting marriage." -- George H. Gallup, Jr., founding chairman of the Gallup International Institute
Review
"In this groundbreaking book, Mike and Harriet McManus dispel the myth that living together before marriage leads to "happily ever after" and give the secrets for making marriages succeed. No one is more qualified to help couples prepare for marriage. Based on their years of training over 4,000 Mentor Couples and their personal 97 percent marriage-saving success rate in their own church, Mike and Harriet offer couples marriage insurance no one should ever live without!" -- Claudia and David Arp, founders, Marriage Alive International, and authors of 10 Great Dates Before You Say "I Do"
About the Author
Mike McManus is a Duke graduate who was
Time's youngest
correspondent in 1963. He has been a nationally syndicated columnist since 1977,
whose award-winning "Ethics and Religion" column is published weekly. Mike's book
Marriage Savers inspired clergy to create Community Marriage Policies
that have reduced divorce and cohabitation rates in more than one hundred
cities. He and his wife, Harriet, cofounded Marriage Savers, Inc., to help
clergy better prepare, enrich, and restore marriages. They have personally
mentored fifty-seven couples preparing for marriage. Harriet McManus married Mike in 1965. She was the first editor of
Marriage Savers and Mike's other books and is editor of Mike's columns.
Together they have initiated a premarital marriage ministry in their church,
Fourth Presbyterian in Bethesda, Maryland, and they pioneered the training of
Mentor Couples to administer a premarital inventory. She works full-time for
Marriage Savers as a writer, editor, and trainer. She and Mike have three sons
and six grandchildren.