Preparing for a Christian Wedding
New Hope Church is delighted to share with you in the joy of Christian marriage. God has ordained that a man and a woman may enter together into marriage, pledging their love and promising fidelity each to the other, as long as they both shall live.As you enter into the joy and responsibility of marriage, may you seek and receive the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
While you are in the preparatory stages of your wedding (and the marriage that follows), you will want to take into consideration the guidelines that are outlined in this site.
We will attempt to make the planning and celebration of your wedding meaningful and memorable, as is fitting for such a sacred occasion. These guidelines reflect the values of our denomination, the Reformed Church in America (RCA), and New Hope's accumulated experience in conducting wedding ceremonies. We hope you will find them workable and helpful in the many preparations that are before you.
On Christian Marriage
We recognize marriage as an expression of God's love for us. This love is manifested in the love of husbands for their wives and wives for their husbands.Marriage in our culture and society is recognized by the state as a civil contract between a man and a woman and the state. The Church acknowledges this secular meaning of marriage but views it as more than a contract. In marriage, men and women commit themselves to a mutually shared life and respond to each other in sensitive and lifelong concern.
Your wedding ceremony, as an act of worship, will acknowledge marriage as a gracious gift from God, placing the primary focus on God's blessing of the covenant being established.
