The minister's responsibility in premarital pastoral care might be described as providing
a hermeneutical bridge between the couple's present life situation, their families of origin, and the way that the Church has historically offered blessing to a marriage. That bridge or relationship, which can seldom be used for counseling prior to the marriage, may be a important basis for the establishing of a counseling relationship later on when the circumstances of life and marriage make the couple aware of their for such a ministry. Christians can show that premarital counseling really works, and we have a responsibility to show how it works by building marriages that are lived according to God's plan as revealed in the Bible.