Partners News No 7 - April 2001
By Dave Percival
Life at 2-in-2-1
The facts and figures behind 2-in-2-1 continue to convince us that we are meeting a deep need for advice and support for married couples around the UK - the first quarter of 2001 has been over 10 times as busy as the first quarter 2000 - yes, over 1000% growth in the first year!! This means that over 20,000 visitors each quarter are getting a taste of the whole range of support and encouragement that is available for marriage.
The biggest single issue still seems to be the impact of affairs and infidelity on marriage, with the consequent breakdown in trust and the challenges of re-building with shattered dreams. The impact of internet pornography on marriage has also been a hot topic on the discussion forums recently. We have found the site www.pureintimacy.org run by Focus on the Family particularly helpful in responding to these postings - maybe something similar is needed for a UK based audience.
And while on the subject of Forums, by the time you read this 2-in-2-1 will hopefully have had a "technology refresh" and will be upgraded to vBulletin - well OK it's only exciting to the technophiles among you, but it means we have the latest technology to run opinion polls etc easily from the site, so if you have a question you'd like to test with our visitors then let us know and we'll run it for you. We hope to use the feature to raise the level of debate on the site around current marriage related topics.
Promoting Marriage, the umbrella organisation that encompasses most of the leading providers of Christian Marriage Enrichment programmes, has chosen 2-in-2-1 to host its new website www.promoting-marriage.org.uk. We are currently awaiting the new graphics for their site and will then be uploading it so that PM has its own distinct identity, whilst retaining the benefits of the rapid updating and wide range of links offered by 2-in-2-1. If you are interested in our web hosting service then just let us know!
We will be joining Promoting Marriage at the Christian Resources Exhibition this year. Other 2-in-2-1 partners who will be there include CWR, Mothers Union, Positive Parenting and of course Care for the Family.
A special thank-you should go to Christian Family Network who run a monthly newsletter on family issues. For the past six months they have been carrying "Kate's Marriage Tips" which appear weekly at 2-in-2-1 and in so doing have provided important publicity for us. We are able to make Kate's Tips available for publication in any newsletter or paper etc, and indeed are pleased to say that Community Marriage Policies will shortly be publishing them on a weekly basis in their local press etc. Please contact us for the materials if you would like to use them.
New partners to 2-in-2-1 this quarter include Lifechange, a new agency based south of London and working in preparation, enrichment and counselling, and Scottish Marriage Care, offering counselling, relationship services and training through local centres across Scotland. Marriage Agenda, one of our original partners, has recently changed its name to Two Agreed and hopes to focus more and more on the secular sector with it's enrichment work.
Above all it is the enthusiastic support of you our partners, and the feedback from the couples we are reaching every hour of the day and night that bring us great encouragement to press on expanding 2-in-2-1. So please keep the ideas, criticism, and encouragement flowing!!
