Pastoral Premarital Counseling for Bi-Cultural Traditional Chinese and Chinese American Couples
Abstract
This ministry focus paper provides a premarital counseling manual based on partnership in marriage for pastors who counsel bicultural couples. Bicultural is defined as couples that include a traditional Chinese Christian and Chinese American Christian. The paper's thesis is that a pastoral premarital counseling manual can be developed for couples that include a traditional Chinese Christian and a Chinese American Christian in a bi-cultural relationship. Traditional Chinese Christians are influenced deeply by traditional Chinese culture, and their behavior and cultural patterns are relatively unaffected by American culture. Chinese American Christians are raised in America and embrace American culture, behavior, and cultural patterns. When individuals from these differing backgrounds marry, many difficulties may emerge in their marriages. This manual addresses the importance of pastoral premarital counseling and provides guidelines for pastors. The manual uses the theological concepts of partnership in marriage, support, and mutual submission. The paper addresses the problem of bi-cultural marriage and the varying assumptions and expectations of the traditional Chinese and Chinese American cultures. It also looks at other proposed solutions and analyzes them from a biblical perspective. The author presents the thesis and its scriptural support. He incorporates and explains Adam and Eve's pre-fall partnership, Jesus' views on marriage and divorce, and Paul's concept of mutual submission. The paper includes the manual as a practical solution to the pastoral pre-marital counseling challenge.