Setting the marriage bar for a new generation

After 10 years as a pastor at Northview Community Church in Abbotsford, B.C., Dave Currie was ready for a new challenge.

Dave Currie

“I needed something over my head,” he says, “to bring me back to my knees.”

Currie’s new role as director of FamilyLife Canada, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, family coach, and host of “Marriage Uncensored,” Canada’s leading show on marriage and family, has been exactly that kind of challenge.

With his co-host, Christie Rayburn, Currie gets into thousands of homes across North America each week, to offer no-nonsense and practical tips on dealing with family issues like relationships, marriage, infidelity, sex, parenting, and the influences of media.

The show is not “blatantly Christian,” Currie explains, but it’s built on biblical premises. “As a matter of fact,” he says, “we’re committed to basing [the principles we present] on God’s Word.”

Increasing inability

Currie is deeply concerned about the increase of family brokenness and the inability of many couples to grasp what it takes to have a good marriage. “Basically people are getting dumber and dumber when it comes to knowing how to have a good marriage,” he explains. “If you come from a family with an average to borderline or even questionable marriage, what’s the chance you’ll have a better marriage? Dysfunction breeds dysfunction.”

The challenge, he says, is to help people return to a “strong blueprint” for a godly, healthy marriage. Currie wants to “set the bar high and put a whole new standard out there for this generation.”

Launched four years ago on NOW TV in Surrey, B.C., “Marriage Uncensored” is now broadcast in high definition across Canada on the Global CanWest network and on PBS in the U.S., as well as in Israel and Guam.

The shows also invites people to a website where viewers can meet with online mentors, view podcasts, receive monthly e-zines, and more. The goal is to build relationships and to lead visitors to attend a marriage conference.

The site gets up to 25,000 visits a month. One grateful viewer noted, “I think this show is the best kept secret around. People who might never get to marriage counselling can watch all the episodes online in their own homes!”

His own marriage

Currie works very intentionally at practicing in his own marriage what he advises for others. “After 32 years of marriage we have found our sweet spots – areas we can count on – and our trouble spots – areas that are complicated for us,” he says. The couple tries to have a “date night” every week or two, in order, “to protect who we are.”

While he misses his pastoral role of building into individual lives, Currie sees what he does on television as an extension of Northview’s vision to be a church that reaches out to non-Christians. He and his wife Donalyn are now one of Northview’s missionary couples. They are thrilled to have the church behind their ministry.

“I have the privilege of reaching out to a whole generation of people who don’t attend church,” he says, “but who need God’s blueprint for life and marriage.”

Janice Nikkel is a part-time production assistant at “Marriage Uncensored” and attends Murrayville Community Church, Langley, B.C. Find out more about the show at Marriage Uncensored.