Weddings

Wedding Policy

The wedding policy of The Dover Church reflects our values as a welcoming and spiritually nurturing place of worship. While accepting the legal conventions adopted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts our policy focuses on the spiritual aspects of weddings, not the legal aspects of what weddings and marriage mean.

Marriages last longer and couples achieve greater happiness when the decision to marry is taken seriously, prayerfully and after consideration and consultation of those within one’s community of friends and family.

For those reasons, the Board of Deacons has established guidelines for marriages conducted in our church.

1. Weddings celebrated in The Dover Church are worship services, and reflect the celebrant’s authority to act in the name of God. At a minimum, wedding services in the church will thank God for the gift of love, will ask for God’s blessing on the marriage, and will be performed in the name of Christ.

2. The decision of whether to perform a wedding within the church belongs solely to our pastors. Our pastors will follow this wedding policy and we will accept our pastors' judgment on the appropriateness of a wedding and the readiness of a couple for marriage.

3. All couples married in The Dover Church will first receive pre-marital counseling. The church is open to a variety of counseling formats, but it is the couples’ responsibility to see that they have received appropriate counseling.

4. Under certain circumstances, we welcome guest clergy to officiate or co-officiate weddings. When a couple wishes to be married by a clergy person who is not a pastor of this church, our senior pastor will determine, on behalf of the church, whether the wedding meets the standards affirmed by the wedding policy as set forth by the Board of Deacons.

Finally, we recognize that while God’s will for us remains constant, our understanding of that will evolves continually.

The Dover Church Board of Deacons

February, 2009

 To read the Wedding Policy brochure, click on the pdf below