Marriage Mentor Training Workshop

Before the Event:

One month before the event, start promoting it at church and on social media with the promo video. Form a leadership team to help with the training, including one mentor “coaching” couple for every 2-3 training couples. For every couple who signs up, send a series of emails to start prepping them for this event, one immediately after sign up and a second just a day or two before the event (see samples below).

Sample Email #1 - After Sign Up

Hello!

Thanks for signing up for our Marriage Mentor Training Workshop! Our goal as a church is to help people go “full circle” as Christians, and this workshop will help you accomplish the mission as a couple. Soon enough you’ll learn how to use the tools at pursueGOD.org to disciple another couple!

This event features the Marriage Mentor Training series from pursueGOD.org. We encourage you to preview the series on your own before the workshop. Don’t worry, we’ll cover these lessons together and we’ll take some time to answer your questions at the workshop. As the day approaches, remember this: Jesus wants all of us to get in the game and start making disciples. Our job is to equip you to do just that – so we’ll see you at the workshop! Don’t forget to put it on your calendar:

(Include Event Title, Day and Time. Include link to calendar invite if applicable.)

Sign

P.S. This workshop is for people who have already trusted Jesus for salvation. If you still need to talk to a pastor or a mentor about becoming a Christian, please reply to this email and we’ll get you connected!

Sample Email #2 - Before Event

Hey there!

The Mentor Training Workshop is almost here! Are you ready?

Remember, this event features the Marriage Mentor Training series from pursueGOD.org. We hope you had a chance to preview that series on your own before the workshop so you can start thinking about the topics. If not, do it now!

Got questions? Just ask! And we’ll see you at the big event:

(Include Event Title, Day and Time. Include link to calendar invite if applicable.)

During the Event:

Here’s a basic agenda you can use for this event. Feel free to customize as needed:

1. Check in: Have name tags prepared ahead of time and be sure to write group numbers on each tag if necessary.
2. Welcome and opener: Welcome the attenders and give them a heads up on the workshop agenda. If possible, invite a couple of mentors to share about how mentoring has changed their lives, or consider showing a testimony video. Get people excited about the idea of mentoring, and pray to open the sessions.
3. Training Topics: Show the first topic video to the entire group, and then break into small groups to talk about it. Encourage everyone to pull up the topics on their phones, since that’s how they’ll likely do it when they start mentoring. Spend about 15 minutes talking about each topic in groups, and then come together for Q&A with the whole group. Repeat this process until you’ve covered the four topics in the Marriage Mentor Training series. 
4. Closing: Wrap up the workshop with instructions on next steps. Remind attenders that they’ve received a lot of information so far, and it can be overwhelming at first. Not to worry! Follow up after the event will help them finish their training. They’ll meet with their coach (as a group or one-on-one) for follow up training. For coaches, the best place for further training is to choose some topics from the Marriage 101 series. For every couple who completes the training, be ready to add them to your official “mentor list” and connect them to another couple that needs a mentor. 

After the Event:

Follow up is important for this workshop. Be sure to reach out to every attender with at least one more email that encourages them to continue to meet with their coach. If you have another training event on the schedule, this is a good time to plug it.

Coaches: it’s your job to schedule follow up conversations with trainees in your group. It’s up to you whether to do it one-on-one or as a group, but the key is to cover the topics (we suggest starting with the Marriage 101 series) and model mentoring as you do it. Ask lots of questions, and help the discover the value of mentoring. Invite them to lead some of the topics so they can practice mentoring. When you’re done with the training topics, let them pick a few more topics for practice. And then become their advocate at church, helping them get connected to someone so they can start making disciples.  

Sample Email #3 - After Event

Hello again!

Our Training Workshop was awesome! Thanks for coming. Now let’s talk about next steps.

Remember that our goal for this event was to help you go “full circle” as a Christian by learning how to make disciples with the tools at pursueGOD.org. We covered the four topics in Marriage Mentor Training series from pursueGOD.org, but you’ll probably want to cover a few more training topics with your coach. Here’s their contact info just in case:

(Coach’s name, email address, and phone)

When you’re ready, we’ll connect you to another couple from our church who need a mentor. We’re always talking about pursuing God with a mentor, because we want to generate life-giving relationships. The “handoff” process is important, and we want to make sure we connect each seeker with the right mentor. So this would be a good time to let us know more about you and the kinds of topics you’re most interested in talking about with others. Just hit “reply” to this email with that information.

Of course, you don’t have to wait for a handoff from us. Remember that there might be people in your home, neighborhood, or workplace that are interested in pursuing God with you one topic at a time. Remember this: Jesus wants all of us to get in the game and start making disciples. Let’s do it!

For more tips and training on the pursueGOD tools, check out the training page. And keep pursuing God!