Long live the intercultural couple! by Jean-Christophe Bieselaar
- Why do some people decide to embark on the intercultural couple adventure?
- Are there any particular difficulties arising from this?
- Should we take cultural differences and religious expressions seriously, or tell ourselves that love will overcome all obstacles?
- What are the delicate topics to discuss before getting married?
Illustrated by numerous testimonials, this book offers practical ideas that will help intercultural couples build a solid relationship marked by mutual understanding. Questions at the end of each chapter will allow couples, and potentially those preparing them for marriage, to honestly discuss their relationship. Better armed, they will be able to face the differences and disagreements that will inevitably come their way. This book is aimed at intercultural couples who experience their differences on a daily basis, the families around them who wish to understand their particular challenges, as well as community leaders who celebrate the marriages of intercultural couples. It is the result of doctoral research and numerous surveys with intercultural couples.
Jean-Christophe exceptionally divides his time between the Church of the Christian and Missionary Alliance of Gatineau where he is senior pastor and the ÉTEQ in Montreal, as part of a temporary agreement. Jean-Christophe Bieselaar studied political science at The American University of Paris, practical theology and counseling at Alliance Theological Seminary in Nyack, USA, and apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary on the Philadelphia campus. . He holds a doctorate (Ph.D) from King's College London – University of London and wrote a thesis on the problem of interculturality within couples in the Church. Lecturer at the Protestant Institute of Theology in Paris for seven years, he was a pastor in New York for three years, then in the business district of Paris between 2002 and 2012 (Église Protestante Évangélique de la Défense) where his work Cross-cultural pastoral care was highlighted by Christianity Today magazine. He was involved as an associate parish pastor from 2012 to 2016 at The American Church in Paris where he met with many couples for their marriage preparation and occasionally preached and celebrated various ceremonies there. He was appointed hospital chaplain by the Protestant Federation of France and thus exercised pastoral activity within five Parisian public hospitals of the Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Paris (APHP). He was present during the attacks in Paris in 2015 in the emergency department of his hospital all night. He has a certification in Clinical Pastoral Education and has achieved Associate status from The Higher Education Academy in Great Britain. His pastoral experience in France and the United States led him to be confronted with the problem of the couple's interculturality. How to prepare a French-foreign, intercultural couple for marriage? What problems do interfaith marriages pose? What will their challenges be? Do we prepare a French couple and a Franco-foreign couple for a wedding in the same way? How to prepare for marriage, this time necessary to lay out your married life project in the presence of a third person, a space for dialogue and confrontation of cultural differences? Having not found a curriculum and books specifically adapted to the marriage preparation needs of these couples in all their diversity, he then undertook doctoral research at King's College London - University of London and the writing of a interdisciplinary thesis in sociology, psychology and practical theology. Jean-Christophe Bieselaar today helps mixed and intercultural couples to meet the challenges concerning their daily relationship and their marriage. He has been a speaker for national and regional events at La Fédération Protestante de France, Protestants en Fête 2013, the DEFAP forum, and the FEF network. He has been invited to workshops at the American Church of Paris, King's College University of London (King's Learning Institute), as well as in numerous Protestant churches in France and Quebec. He has written several chapters on the interculturality of couples in various works, has been interviewed by various media (France 5, ZDF, Réforme) and has published a book: "Viv(r)e le couple interculturel!"
