21 December 2017 | Huis ter Heide, the Netherlands [Madelon Comvalius with Karen Holford] How do you deal with showing love, communicating, working through your conflicts, and surviving all the different seasons in your relationship? On 9 December 2017, Karen and Bernie Holford came to the Netherlands Couples’ Day, entitled “Team up!”, and shared their inspiration and experiences from 34 years of marriage. They encouraged the couples with their creative and Biblical insights on how to help each other feel happy, loved, safe and secure in their relationship.
The couples were also led on a creative prayer journey with 7 different activity stations. At each station, they read a Bible text and completed an assignment, ranging from eating a passionfruit together, to pinning ideas about their dream relationship to a cloud.
In the evening everyone had time to relax and have fun. In one game every couple was given a heart-shaped balloon with a number inside. They had to pop the balloon by placing it between their bodies and hugging each other. Each number corresponded to a little pile of different gifts, such as candles, books about marriage, and heart-shaped message tags.
The event was supported by a wonderful catering team, who continually provided hot drinks, cakes, a delicious lunch and a wonderful Asian-inspired evening meal.
In spite of the snowfall during the night, couples travelled to the event from all over the Netherlands. There was even one couple from Belgium. “It’s beautiful to see that couples want to invest in their relationship by coming to this relationship day”, says Madelon Comvalius, Netherlands Union Conference (NUC) Youth and Family Ministries director.
Karen Holford, who is responsible for the Family Ministries at the Trans-European Division, also enjoyed the relationship day, “It fills my heart with joy when people come to you and tell you how the principles they have learned during the day are already helping their relationship.”
The feedback on the day was positive. After each person rated the day, the average score was 8.7 out of 10. The 26 couples expressed how they felt about the relationship day in words such as heartwarming, cozy, informative, creative, uplifting, inspiring, successful, and loving.
2019 is the centenary of Adventist Family Ministries around the world. So Madelon and her NUC team are already planning to do something special to focus on families during that year. What will your team do?
To see more photos from the Couples’ day, please visit NUC Facebook page. [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, editor; Deana Stojkovic, associate editor
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tedNEWS is an information bulletin issued by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division.
