Friends, Partners & Lovers
What It Takes to Make Your Marriage Work
Kevin A. Thompson
Book 01 · 2018
Friends, Partners & Lovers
What It Takes to Make Your Marriage Work
Every marriage plays three roles at once. Almost every marriage in trouble has quietly stopped playing one of them.
Watch the interview
Featured
Interview Kevin on the three roles every marriage plays
Marriage is not one relationship. It is three.
The idea
Couples rarely fail at all of marriage at the same time. They fail at one part of it, slowly, and then spend years arguing about everything else.
You are friends — two people who actually enjoy each other. You are partners — two people running a household, a budget, a calendar, a family. And you are lovers — two people with a physical relationship no one else shares.
Neglect the friendship and the partnership turns into a business arrangement. Neglect the partnership and resentment does the rest. Neglect the physical and distance sets in that conversation cannot close. Name the role you have dropped and you finally know what to work on.
Inside the book
What you will actually get
- Friends
Why liking your spouse is not a bonus feature, and how couples stop without noticing.
- Partners
Dividing the work of a shared life so that neither person is quietly keeping score.
- Lovers
Talking about the physical relationship without shame, blame, or avoidance.
- Diagnosis
A way to tell which of the three has gone missing — and which one to repair first.
Who it is for
Written with these readers in mind
Couples who feel more like roommates
The affection is gone but nobody can say when it left.
Couples in premarital counseling
A framework worth having before you need it.
Small groups and marriage classes
Built to be read together and argued about out loud.
Praise
What people are saying
Free chapter
Read the first chapter before you buy
Enter your email and the opening chapter comes straight to your inbox, along with new writing on marriage, parenting, and faith. Unsubscribe any time.
One email at a time. No spam, ever.
For churches and groups
Reading this together
Bulk orders
Buying for a class, a small group, or a whole congregation? Discounted pricing is available on orders of ten or more, with direct shipping to your church.
Companion guidebook
A session-by-session guidebook with questions for every chapter, written for couples working through the book together or a small group taking it a week at a time.
Bring Kevin in
Kevin speaks to churches, businesses, and organizations on marriage, leadership, and living with intention.
About the author
Kevin A. Thompson
Kevin is a teaching pastor at Bayside Church, where he oversees Married Life Ministries across nine locations in California. He is one of the more widely read voices in America on marriage and relationships.
A frequent guest on Focus on the Family and Family Life and featured in the New York Times, he holds a Master of Divinity from Beeson Divinity School at Samford University. He and his wife, Jenny, live in Auburn, California, with their two children.
The rest of the shelf
Seven books, one conversation
Marriage, family, anxiety, and attachment — each book takes one piece of it. Pick the one that sounds like your week.