A very important lecture about the Christian premarital counseling, published via YouTube and Facebook, was given by Pastor Tzvetan Petkov, General Conference President at the IMS, as part of the traditional Q&A series of the IMS, respectively on April 27, 2026 (https://www.facebook.com/reel/3079903658877050), and on May 4, 2026 (https://www.facebook.com/reel/2548511358927102), the Facebook site IMS SDA GC confirmed.
The first of the two sessions was dedicated to the financial options of the family administration the young couple should choose: Should the family have a joint bank account or two separate accounts, should the wife go to work as a hired expert for a company or take care of the home and the children only, how should the family properties and assets be distributed and managed, and how would be created a family budget plan with the proper salary amount.
In a brilliant way, Pastor Tzvetan Petkov underlined the main principles of the Christian counseling: The counselor should teach the engaged young couple before the wedding how to make an analysis of all the aspects of the Christian family life and to make their own decisions; the counselor should not make the decisions instead of the engaged couple; the counselor should not have a lifetime and full time employment at the concrete family, but he should teach the engaged couple how to seek God’s counseling in the Holy Scriptures and in the Christian prayer.
The second session was dedicated to the questions about the place where the family would prefer to live; and with whose parents inside, if needed; and to which kind school should the children go etc. Pastor Tzvetan Petkov emphasized the testimony of the Spirit of Prophecy that it would be better, if the young family could live alone, without the presence of the couple’s parents in the flat or the house. As of the school education and both the number and the names of the children, as well as all the disputable questions, should be analyzed and led to agreement before the wedding, Pastor Tzvetan Petkov mentioned. In addition, Pastor Tzvetan Petkov presented the main components of the Christian premarital counseling: 1. Spiritual preparation; 2. Understanding self and the partner; 3. Setting realistic expectations (an individual questionnaire for each of the partners) and 4. Planning for the future.

Written by Margarit Zhekov

Pastor Tzvetan Petkov and Pastor Douglas Francis during the Q&A session; a photo by the IMS SDA GC.