In saying ‘we come together’ for the purposes of… Betrothal and Marriage we are not proposing something distinctly Biblically mandated. We are instead combining several Biblical principles and ideas. We see Abraham and Isaac having, for his betrothal ‘reservoir’, his family. We see God mandating for Israel that they marry within Israel and even within the clan. And we see the believers in the New Testament coming together for fellowship, giving them a similar reservoir.

Yet in our modern day the church does not serve as a similar reservoir. First of all, most of our churches consist of a mix of social and serious Christians… those who have accepted the Lordship of Christ and those who do not even acknowledge that He has any authority. Secondly, the nature and authority of betrothal has been so long hidden that few if any in the modern church would even understand the nature of the question that Abraham's servant put to Laban and Bethuel[1] let alone be prepared to answer it as they did[2].

So we propose that we need such a community. A community of families that have bound themselves together to be prepared to give such an answer, and ask such a question; and who understand the meaning of both. By forming this community we prepare ourselves to participate in Betrothal and Marriage. This community should consist of those both near and far: not a commune where all must live together. But a community bound by their covenanting together.