Christian marriage counseling is couples counseling that includes your shared faith, as much or as little as you both choose. The core work matches any good marriage counseling: breaking the cycle of conflict, rebuilding trust, and learning to talk again. Faith can add prayer, scripture, and honest talk about commitment and forgiveness.
Key takeaways
If there is abuse, intimidation, or fear in your marriage, couples counseling is not the right place to start. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1.800.799.7233. If you are thinking about suicide, call or text 988. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
Christian marriage counseling is clinical counseling for married couples who want their Christian faith to be part of the work. At Foundations, Christian counseling means clinical therapy with your faith included, as much or as little as you choose. For a couple, that choice belongs to both partners.
The goal is the same as any marriage counseling: to see the pattern you keep getting stuck in, rebuild trust, and learn to talk without escalating. Faith does not replace those skills. It gives you shared language and values to draw on while you build them.
The core work is the same as couples counseling. Many Foundations couples counselors use Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), which looks underneath the argument to the attachment needs driving it, along with practical communication skills.
What changes is the material you bring into the room. Faith based marriage counseling adds your shared beliefs as a resource, for example exploring what commitment, forgiveness, and grace mean to each of you, and praying together if you both want that.
| Couples counseling | Christian marriage counseling | |
|---|---|---|
| Core work | Conflict cycles, trust, communication | The same |
| Methods | Established approaches such as EFT and CBT informed skills | The same, with faith woven in |
| Prayer and scripture | Not part of sessions | Only when both of you want them |
| Who sets the level of faith | Not applicable | You do, and you can change it |
Early on, your counselor asks how each of you wants faith included. You set the level, and you can change it at any time. Couples often choose some of these:
Forgiveness is never used to rush past hurt or to excuse harm. A counselor helps you name the hurt first, then decide together what repair looks like. If you want tools to use at home, our guide on how to talk about relationship problems is a good start.
Marriage counseling can still help. Your counselor works with the relationship, not one partner's beliefs, so each of you is heard and respected. Faith can be discussed as something that matters to one partner, including how it shapes values, parenting, and decisions, without pressuring the other to adopt it.
The same is true when you share a faith but practice it differently, or when one of you is going through a season of doubt. A good counselor makes room for both of you.
All three can help, and many couples draw on more than one. The difference is training and scope:
In Colorado, you can check a counselor's license through the state's Division of Professions and Occupations, which offers a public Verify a License tool. Licensed counseling and pastoral care often work well side by side: the counselor treats the relationship and mental health concerns, and your church continues spiritual care and community.
The research is encouraging, with honest limits:
Most of these studies looked at individual therapy, not marriage counseling. The fair summary: including faith does not appear to weaken good therapy, and it can support spiritual well being. The skill of the counselor and the fit with both partners matter too.
Ask these five questions before you commit:
Then notice how you both feel after the first meeting. Fit matters for both partners, and it is fine to keep looking.
Marriage counseling is not recommended while abuse is ongoing. The National Domestic Violence Hotline says, "We at The Hotline do not encourage anyone in an abusive relationship to seek counseling with their partner," because "Abuse is not a relationship problem."
If there is abuse, intimidation, or fear in your marriage, call the Hotline at 1.800.799.7233 for confidential support. If you are thinking about suicide, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. Individual counseling can be a safer place to start.
Counselors who offer Christian counseling are shown on our Christian counseling page, and several of them also work with couples and premarital clients. Each counselor's bio lists their Colorado credential or training status. Our team includes licensed counselors, candidates for licensure, and clinical counseling interns who practice under licensed supervision.
Counselors on our Christian counseling team list approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and person centered therapy in their profiles. Some list premarital assessment training such as Prepare/Enrich or SYMBIS. Engaged couples can also see premarital counseling. With your written consent, a counselor can coordinate with your pastor.
Sessions are in person in Fort Collins, Loveland, and Windsor, or online anywhere in Colorado. Tell us what matters to you, including your faith, when you reach out, and we will match you with a counselor who fits. If the first match does not feel right, our Counselor Match Guarantee means we will help you find a counselor who does. For a faith based look at worry, read Does Prayer Help Anxiety?, and for the patterns that predict trouble, see the four markers of relationship failure or success.
Christian marriage counseling is couples counseling that includes a couple's Christian faith, as much or as little as both partners choose. The counselor uses established couples methods to break cycles of conflict and rebuild trust, and can add prayer, scripture reflection, and conversations about commitment, forgiveness, and grace when you want them.
Only if you want that. You decide how much faith is part of your sessions, and you can change your mind at any time. Some couples want prayer and scripture in every meeting, others want a counselor who simply respects their beliefs, and some come with questions or doubts they want to explore together.
Marriage counseling can still help. The counselor works with the relationship, not one partner's beliefs, so each of you is heard and respected. Faith can be discussed as something that matters to one partner, including how it shapes values, parenting, and decisions, without pressuring the other to adopt it.
Not always. A licensed counselor holds a state mental health credential and can assess and treat concerns like anxiety, depression, and trauma. Pastoral counselors are clergy, and lay biblical counselors are usually trained church members. Each can help, and the difference is training and scope, so ask any counselor what credential they hold.
Ask what credential the counselor holds and verify it with the state, how they include faith and who decides, what approach they use with couples, how they work when partners differ in faith, and what they do if there is abuse. Then notice how you both feel after the first meeting.
Marriage counseling is not recommended while abuse is ongoing. The National Domestic Violence Hotline does not encourage anyone in an abusive relationship to seek counseling with their partner. Call 1.800.799.7233 for confidential support, call or text 988 if you are thinking about suicide, and call 911 if you are in immediate danger.
Clinically reviewed by Chris Berger, M.A., LPC, NCC. Updated October 2026.
More for couples: browse our Relationships and Couples guides.
We will match you with a counselor who fits, and your first meeting is a free consultation. Schedule your free consultation or call 970.227.2770.
If there is abuse in your relationship, call 1.800.799.7233. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 any time. If anyone is in immediate danger, call 911.