THE PROCEDURE FOR MARRIAGE IN METHODIST CHURCH
The procedures followed in marriage in Methodist Churches according to the regulations laid by the Government as well the Book of Discipline the rule book of the Methodist Church in India.
What is the process involved in marriage for a Methodist member in the Church.
First finish the Civil marriage at the Civil Registrar’s office in your area. Its a 21 day process to complete the entire marriage of process until Civil Marriage Certificate is availed.
With the Civil Marriage Certificate in hand go to your local Church pastor with a written application and valid ID proof and Address proof.
He will check your membership standing in the local Church by verifying the Baptism/Confirmation/membership registers and ask for such detail of the person to be married.
After verification process, he will prepare the Notice of Marriage with the detail both the parties (man and women) to be filled in the column. Notice of Marriage is for the purpose of posting in the notice Board for public viewing for 3 weeks before marriage.
Then your Pastor will prepare the No Object Certificate (NOC before banns) and mail it to the Pastor/Church of the other party. Purpose is to affirm your Church membership, physical location (address) and your true status of bachelor/ or spinster/ or divorcee to him. That Pastor will also prepare a similar NOC before banns of the other party and send it to him.
If both parties (both groom and bride) are from the same Church, Pastor will verify the documents of both in his office only. In case one party is a convert and does not have membership anywhere in a Church, then Pastor will guide him/her to apply for membership in a Church first, here or anywhere. It follows a procedure of Baptism, Confirmation etc. If the person could not follow that procedure, then he/she may be asked to make a legal affidavit stating his/her conversion to Christianity and his/her marital status exactly now (Bachelor/ or Spinster/ or Divorcee etc).
After all this preliminary preparations and collection of documents, Pastor will inform the Pastorate Committee and then publish the Notice of Marriage in the Church. If any clarification arises, he may contact his higher authorities.
After sending and receiving the NOC before banns to and from the other party’s Church, the marriage banns will be announced to the Church for three Sundays. Purpose is to make the public announcement to the congregation and ask for objections if any from them for a valid reason.
After three banns announced and no objection received, then Pastor will certify the NOC after banns which mentions ‘I have duly announced the marriage banns, and not received any objections from anyone…so I am clearing the person to go ahead with marriage on so and so date at so and so time. Similarly, he will ask for the second NOC from other party’s Church/Pastor.
Following all the above procedures and documents produced, Pastor will conduct the marriage in the Church.
He will register the marriage in
– the Church Marriage Register
– the Register of True Copy (to be sent to the the Civil Registrar office and inform about the marriage happened).
He will also give the authorized Certificate of Marriage provided by the Church.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS :
1. What to do if I want my marriage to be solemnized in a church in a different place other than the native Church where my membership lie?
Contact the Church / Pastor of that Church in your desired place and request him to provide the place or/and solemnization of your marriage. If they agree, they will ask you for relevant documents including your ID proof and Address proofs. After giving permission, your native pastor can arrange to go and solemnize your marriage there. He will carry the Church registers with him to register the marriage there.
2. What if I want the Pastor of that Church to solemnize the marriage as well as register my marriage in his Church records?
All that depends upon the procedures of that Church. Each local Church has their own rules to follow. The Pastor of that Church may agree to solemnize your marriage and register it in his records. For that he may ask you to provide the necessary documents such as your Civil Marriage Certificate, the NOCs of pre-banns and after banns from both Churches of parties, the details of both of your parent/guardians and witnesses, ID proofs and Address proofs of all etc.
3. What is the procedure followed if a man or woman to marry is from another denomination like Roman Catholic?
The Roman Catholic order is different from Protestants and both do not agree in their documentation and procedures. In this regard your Pastor or Parish Priest may guide you to join and take membership in either of one the denominational Church. After marriage, both your memberships will be in the Church that you joined and married, previous Church will not retain it. There are cultic groups functioning in the name of Church such as Jehovah Witnesses and mormons, who will be out rightly denied for alliance and contact.
4. Can I have a Civil Marriage followed by a Blessing Ceremony in the Church without Registration ?
Yes you can. The Pastor of the Church may consider and conduct it depending upon the veracity of your candidature, familiarity in the Church and permissions granted by the local Church body/Pastorate Committee. In this case there is no need to do any registration in the Church records. However, it has to be authorized by the Civil Marriage completed first and the Certificate produced.
5. What comes first – Civil Marriage or Church marriage ?
According to the laws and regulations laid down by the Government of India and its State Governments, Christians should complete the Civil marriage first and then go for Church marriage/blessings. In few states, there will be Government appointed Civil Registrars to help register the marriages with the Government by being present in the marriage. They can be directly contacted by the Churches. The register will collect the necessary details from you for certification purpose at least 15 days earlier before the date of marriage. He will be physically present on the day and witness the ceremony. He will take the necessary signatures in the registers there itself and issue the Civil Marriage Certificate.
In some states, the first part of the Civil marriage can be done at the Civil Registrar’s office, then using its reference code, the Church marriage can be conducted. Necessary signatures to acknowledge the marriage are to be done in the prescribed format provided by the Registrar’s office and produced to the Civil Registrar. After and taking the signatures of the parties in registers and entering the details in the records, the office will issue the Marriage Certificate. The marriage will consummate after completing this process. Without completing this whole procedure at Civil Registrar office, a Church blessing/marriage alone will not be valid; it will not be considered as authorized but become null and void. According to previous rules, Church marriages were allowed to happen first and then it is registered at the Civil Registrar’s office with the True Copy of Church Marriage Certificate. New improvised rules are introduced now to check misuses happening around, by having the Civil Registration mandatory along with or prior to Church marriage.
6. What are the restrictions in the procedures of marriage?
In some instance, the Pastor of the Church may avoid to solemnize the marriage or give permission for taking photographs in order to prevent legal situations. When documents produced by the parties are not clear or not in order, this happens. Its better to keep in mind that Churches that are registered as Trust are to strictly abide by the statutory laws and policies of the Government while conducting marriages in its premises.
7. What are the documents involved in marriage process and why are they important?
The documents one should produce in preparation to marriage :
Baptism, Confirmation, Church membership Certificates,
ID Proof, Address Proof, affidavits if any
Civil Marriage Certificate (first and second)
Documents prepared by the Pastor :
Notice of Marriage, NOC before banns, NOC after banns,
Certificate of Marriage (after marriage) etc.
Registers used in Marriage :
Church Marriage Register
True Copy Register
The marriage documents are very important as marriage is a legal entity authorized by the Church as well as the Government going by its Civil codes. Proper registration and proper documents are to be maintained in the Church and the Government departments, so as to produce them anytime when legal issues related to identity, family heredity, divorce, property etc. arise in future.