What Rev. Gerry and Carol Heyboer said:
"Marriage Encounter?
What is it about anyway?
Is it an effective ministry?
Can I trust it?
Is it just another sensitivity seminar?
Until we went on a Marriage Encounter weekend ourselves in January 1981, we had many of the same questions. However, that weekend had a life changing quality to it. As a couple we were challenged in each presentation to choose each other. We were given the time to collect our thought and feelings on subjects of vital importance to our marriage and share them with each other. As we shared with each other we discovered anew the depth of our love for each other. What we learned and experienced on that weekend permanently changed our lives and had a positive effect on our children.
The weekend is built on solid Biblical, Reformed basis. It teaches that God and His Church have a deep concern for marriage. Marriage Encounter has a Catholic background. However, the weekend has been reworked to include Reformed teaching about marriage and the church.
We have seen many lives transformed on Marriage Encounter Weekends. Even though we tell couples that the weekend is for good marriages, we know of many couples who had faced serious marriage difficulties and found spiritual and marital renewal on the weekend. Does Marriage Encounter provide a perfect answer for every couple? No! However, for whoever is willing to take the time to devote themselves to each other for a weekend and work on their relationship, growth is experienced. We give thanks then for Marriage Encounter personally and for many lives it has touched.
It is our hope and desire that you will be able to use Marriage Encounter as an opportunity to grow in your marriage relationship."