New Hope · Marriage Ministry

Ignite.
Built to last.

Marriage was God's idea. Ignite is here to help yours flourish, at every stage, in every season, through every story.

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A couple from New Hope smiling in the sanctuary, holding their New Hope UnLock study guides on discipleship and service

Why this ministry

Marriage needs the church.

Our Mission

To actively embrace and embody God's love as the foundation and driving force of marriage.

Our Vision

Nurture the spiritual growth of both partners while teaching skills and providing tools for improved communication and understanding that cultivate a stronger marriage.

Strengthen the bonds between married couples.
Offer tools for building God-centered relationships.
Reduce separation and divorce by addressing common marital challenges through a God-centered perspective.
Engage couples in the broader church community, fostering a supportive network of lasting relationships.

U.S. divorce rate

40-50%

Of married couples in the United States divorce. Second marriages run even higher.¹

Why we exist

The church can change those numbers.

The statistics are sobering. Researchers tracking long-term outcomes put the lifetime divorce risk at roughly four to five in ten, and decades of pastoral observation suggest the picture inside the church is not dramatically different.

Ignite exists to equip, train, and walk with couples. Learning to follow Jesus together is the work that holds a marriage.

¹ American Psychological Association, "Divorce," apa.org/topics/divorce-child-custody

Programs

What Ignite offers.

Camp Couples Retreat

An annual weekend getaway. Worship, teaching, free time, and lots of talking over coffee.

Young Couples Workshops

Vision-of-marriage workshops for engaged and newlywed couples, building the foundation on Christ.

Middle-Aged Couples Workshops

Family discipleship and how to stay focused on the family mission, even when life is loudest.

Senior Couples Sessions

Pour into the next generation of marriages. Create a family legacy. Finish well.

Counseling & Mentoring

Pre-marital counseling with Pastor Mark. Couples-in-crisis mentoring with Jeff & Cindy Eidsen.

Guest Speakers & Quarterly Fun

Educational programs and special events. Just because you're married doesn't mean you stop having fun.

Recent recap

A day at Hume Lake.

Ignite couples spent a day at Hume Lake. Cornhole tournaments at the waterfront, a walk around the lake, lunch at the camp, and the kind of unhurried fellowship that only happens when you're three hours from home with nothing on the calendar.

A group of Ignite Marriage Ministry couples posed together on the grass at Hume Lake, with the lake and pine-covered mountains behind them

Hume Lake · May 2026

Four husbands playing cornhole at the Hume Lake waterfront on a sunny afternoon, with the lake and Sierra mountains in the background

A wife mid-throw at a cornhole game with the lake and canoes behind her

A circle of Ignite couples in lawn chairs talking by the Hume Lake waterfront

A group of Ignite couples walking on a dirt trail around Hume Lake, the lake visible through the pines

Mentoring & counseling

Real help. From people who get it.

Jeff and Cindy Eidsen embracing inside the New Hope sanctuary

Couples-in-crisis mentoring

Jeff & Cindy Eidsen

Twenty years mentoring couples in church and at home. Certified through Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott's Marriage Mentoring Academy, walking with Fresno couples in crisis since 2005 through their wider ministry with InFaith. Three grown kids, two grandkids, and the long shared road that lets them speak honestly about the hard years and the worth-it ones.

Talk to the Eidsens

Pre-marital counseling

Pastor Mark

“We use a workbook to go through relationship, family, kids, money, communication, and intimacy. It’s about talking through these subjects to make sure couples have discussed things that can disrupt their long-term relationship.”

Request counseling

New Hope pastoral counseling and mentoring is faith-based and is offered by ordained ministry staff and trained lay mentors. It is not licensed therapy or a substitute for professional mental health care. If you are in a mental health crisis, please call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

"Two are better than one… a three-fold cord is not quickly broken."
Ecclesiastes 4:9, 12 (ESV)

Upcoming

Mark your calendar.

Workshops, retreats, mentor matchups, quarterly fun. Auto-populates from Planning Center events tagged Marriage Ministry.

See every upcoming New Hope event on the events calendar.

Once a month, in your inbox

Date ideas and a spiritual nudge.

One short note from the Ignite team each month, a date idea or two, a piece of encouragement, and a spiritual insight worth talking about over coffee with your spouse.

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Get connected

Strong marriages don't happen alone.

Drop us a line, talk to a mentor, or come find us at the next workshop, retreat, or speaker evening.

Get in touch Talk to a mentor See all events

Find us

Most ministry happens on campus.

Workshops, mentoring sessions, and most quarterly events happen at the New Hope campus. Contact the office at (559) 297-7362 or office@newhopechurch.net to get plugged in. Get directions.

Ignite.Built to last.